Harvard University is facing a lawsuit in New York filed by a former Jewish employee who claims he was fired from a senior management position solely because he took time off for Rosh Hashanah, leave that had been approved in advance by his supervisor, according to Ynet.
Daniel Lilienthal is suing the university and his former manager for what he describes as severe religious discrimination, seeking significant damages for lost income, harm to his career trajectory, and emotional distress caused by the dismissal.
Lilienthal had worked at Harvard for eight years before leaving, then returned in September 2024 to take a senior management role at the Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research at the School of Public Health. In the position, he was responsible for managing budgets and research grants while directly supervising six employees, all under an arrangement, agreed from the outset, that he would work remotely from his home in New York. His hiring followed a rigorous vetting process that included interviews with nine different staff members; at no point during the process, the lawsuit states, was his religion or lifestyle raised.
According to the complaint, Lilienthal's first days on the job were marked by technical delays beyond his control, including a delay in receiving his laptop from the university and training sessions that stretched over several days. His direct supervisor, Jackie Blake, told him in advance that she would be occupied with financial reports and would not be able to closely oversee his onboarding, and she did not provide him with a work plan or defined milestones. Despite this, as part of routine expectation-setting, Lilienthal approached Blake and requested paid leave for Rosh Hashanah on October 3 and 4. The manager explicitly approved the request, and he updated his staff accordingly.
The turning point, according to the plaintiff's account, came during the holiday itself. The lawsuit alleges that on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Blake contacted the university's human resources department and raised concerns about Lilienthal's performance, this after just eight working days and without having given him any negative feedback up to that point. When he returned to work the Monday after the holiday, Blake summoned him to a sharp reprimand, criticized his management style, and warned him directly not to think he could "just take time off whenever he wants" and not to take any more leave in the future.
In the days that followed, Lilienthal continued his regular work routine, presented an organized work plan for the next three months that was approved by his supervisor, met with his subordinates, and completed the required training. However, on October 16, his fifteenth working day, he was abruptly fired in a Zoom call. When he asked the manager whether he had done anything wrong or whether there was a performance issue, she answered no, but the next day he was told by human resources that his dismissal was due to a lack of fit and a lack of required skills.
After his dismissal, Lilienthal sought to file an internal complaint about religious discrimination or to appeal the decision, but Harvard's administration refused to allow him to do so, claiming that the complaint mechanism is available only to active employees. Lilienthal says that since the incident he has been unable to find alternative full-time employment, and emphasizes that he was fully suited to the role until the moment he sought to exercise his right to be absent for a Jewish holiday. For its part, Harvard responded to the case by stating that it permits absences for religious holidays, reviews complaints from former employees, and takes action when necessary, while noting that it has not yet filed its formal response in court.
