U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Damages under New York City's Human Rights Law can be sought under a lower standard than under federal civil rights law—and a district court erred in not providing instructions to a jury for damages under the local law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in an opinion issued Friday.

Veronika Chauca won a wrongful termination suit against her former company and bosses at Park Management center in 2015. A jury awarded her $60,500 after finding the company discriminated against her because she was pregnant.

However, U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano of the Eastern District of New York denied Chauca's request to instruct the jury on damages under the city's Human Rights Law, stating that there was “no showing of malice, reckless indifference [or] that there was an intent to violate the law”—the standard for damages under the federal Civil Rights Act.