NEW YORK CITY
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION ATTORNEY
The most common form of discrimination happens in the workplace. Sexual harassment is a type of discrimination, where the employer is responsible for creating or allowing a “hostile work environment.” There are civil rights laws against discrimination in any facet of employment, it can be discrimination during the hiring and firing process, but it can also happen during the course of your employment. When you suspect that you are being treated unfairly at work, a call to a New York City Employment Discrimination Attorney will shed light on your rights.
An employer may not discriminate based on the following criteria:
- Age (Over 40)
- Gender
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Skin Color
- National Origin
- Mental or Physical Disability
- Genetic Information
- Relationship to someone who may be discriminated against
- Pregnancy or Parenthood
Some examples are:
- Specifying the above criteria in a job advertisement (Examples: Waitress, Able Bodied, Young Lady, Strong Man, Youthful)
- Excluding potential employees during the recruitment process (Example: Only men were interviewed for a position, even though many women applied.)
- Denying some staff compensation or benefits (Example: The younger employees are given all the overtime.)
- Paying equally-qualified workers, with the same job description and experience, different salaries (Example: The German employees are paid more than the Dutch employees.)
- Discriminating when assigning disability leave, maternity leave, or retirement options (Example: An older worker is given less disability leave, in the hope they will retire.)
- Denying or disrupting the use of company facilities (Example: There are not enough restrooms for women and they have to wait in line.)
- Discrimination when issuing promotions or lay-offs (Example: The French workers are always getting promoted, whereas the British workers are not.)
Sexual Harassment and the Hostile Work Environment
A hostile work environment is an environment that is difficult or uncomfortable for another person to work in due to discrimination. The most common type is sexual harassment which might include fondling, suggestive remarks, sexually-suggestive photos displayed in the workplace, use of sexual language, or off-color jokes. If a co-worker makes an offensive joke once, you report it to your employer, the employer speaks to the co-worker and it never happens again – that is NOT harassment or a hostile work environment. Your employer did that they were supposed to do and succeeded in properly protecting you. If there is an ongoing pattern of harassment, it’s time to call a New York City Employment Discrimination Attorney.
From Wikipedia:
To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hostile, or offensive to a reasonable person. An employer can be held liable for failing to prevent these workplace conditions, unless it can prove that it attempted to prevent the harassment and that the employee failed to take advantage of existing harassment counter-measures or tools provided by the employer.
A hostile work environment may also be created when management acts in a manner designed to make an employee quit in retaliation for some action. For example, if an employee reported safety violations at work, was injured, attempted to join a union, or reported regulatory violations by management, and management’s response was to harass and pressure the employee to quit. Employers have tried to force employees to quit by imposing unwarranted discipline, reducing hours, cutting wages, or transferring the complaining employee to a distant work location.
The United States Supreme Court stated in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.[4] that Title VII is “not a general civility code.” Thus, federal law does not prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not extremely serious. Rather, the conduct must be so objectively offensive as to alter the conditions of the individual’s employment. The conditions of employment are altered only if the harassment culminates in a tangible employment action or is sufficiently severe or pervasive.
Please New York City Employment Discrimination Attorney, Wittenstein & Wittenstein at 718-261-8114 if you have been a victim of discrimination.
NEW YORK CITY EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION ATTORNEY
What Are High Crimes and Misdemeanors
High crimes and misdemeanors is the Constitutional standard the Congress must use to decide whether or not to impeach and remove a sitting President. It’s always been difficult to understand Constitutional law because it’s written in old-fashioned language and is often intentionally vague. That’s why my teaching assistant review sessions, for the late great civil rights lawyer Haywood Burns, attracted hundreds of students and packed the auditorium at CUNY Law School. It was hard enough to understand these concepts back in the 1990’s, but now we live in the age of “fake news” and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know who to believe. The discussions we see on TV and read in the paper are usually [...]
What’s Your Personal Injury Claim IQ?
Everybody’s a “know-it-all” when it comes to personal injury claims. Even people that are lucky enough to never have an accident claim to know everything. Everybody has a friend that slipped on a banana peel and collected a million dollars or an uncle that drove his car into a tree and retired on the proceeds on his personal injury settlement. The reality is that nobody collects anything unless they can prove that they were badly hurt as a result of somebody else’s carelessness or recklessness. Let’s see if you know as much as you think. It’s a “No-Fault” Claim No. “No-fault” refers to the “Personal Injury Protection” that’s required in New York, and many other states, [...]
Premises Liability – When Can You Sue?
If you’ve been seriously injured on somebody else’s property, you might be wondering if you should sue. You are considering making a premises liability claim, but you don’t want to be a greedy nasty person. On the other hand, you've lost time from work and can’t enjoy the same physical activities as before the accident, so it’s natural to consider whether you’re entitled to compensation. That’s why we’re going to outline how courts determine whether a property owner is legally liable when somebody gets hurt. It’s always a good idea to call us at 718-261-8114 if you’ve had any kind of accident for a specific answer regarding the facts of your particular situation. Premises liability claims [...]
Should I Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
It’s opening night at your best friend’s new restaurant and excitement fills the air. The place looks gorgeous and the food is amazing. Everything’s just wonderful until you slip on the stairs down to the restroom, breaking your leg in two places. You don’t want to be a jerk and sue your friend, but now you’re in rehab after two surgeries, and haven’t been able to work in months. So you’re wondering, “Should I hire a personal injury attorney?” Were You Injured As a Result of Negligence? The best way to find out if you should hire a personal injury lawyer NYC is to make an appointment for a free consultation. Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island [...]
How To Spot The Red Flags When Seeking A High Quality Personal Injury Attorney
There’s no place to hide from attorney advertising. You can’t miss them when you’re driving down a billboard lined highway, and again when you get home on your computer. You might even see attorney representatives at the scene of your accident or at the hospital, encouraging you to go to their “therapy place.” Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan and Brooklyn car accident attorneys make all kinds of promises, but how do you know which claims to believe? This article will show you how to spot “the red flags” that can reveal that your attorney is not being honest and transparent. The “Therapy Place” Guy Some unscrupulous lawyers collude with unethical medical practitioners to hawk services at [...]
Religious Freedom
The founders of the United States and the drafters of our Constitutional considered freedom of religion to be of great importance. That’s why the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits infringement on the right to worship as you choose. We’re all aware that freedom of speech does not include the right to panic people by falsely screaming “Fire” in a crowded theater, and similar limits apply to all rights. We should be grateful to live in a country that allows us the freedom to practice the religion of our choice. Regarding religion, the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The first half of [...]