The Circuit, overruling previous cases that had assumed City HRL equivalence, described the Restoration Act as creating a "one way ratchet" that made federal and state law a floor below which the City Human Rights Law cannot fall, not a ceiling above which it cannot rise. The Circuit cited Williams v. NYC Housing Authority, 872 N.Y.S.2d 27, 31 (1st Dep’t 2009), for a variety of propositions including the fact that:
[T]he Restoration Act notified courts that (a) they had to be aware that some provisions of the City HRL were textually distinct from its state and federal counterparts, (b) all provisions of the City HRL required independent construction to accomplish the law’s uniquely broad purposes, and (c) cases that had failed to respect these differences were being legislatively overruled.
The link to the decision is below; the section dealing with the City Human Rights Law is at pages 23-27 of the slip opinion.