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
Keeping Your No-Fault Benefits after a Traffic Accident
How to Keep Your No-Fault Benefits Open If you’ve been injured in a traffic accident, your medical bills are usually paid by your car insurance. This benefit is commonly referred to as a “no-fault” benefit, as you are entitled to this coverage regardless of how the accident happened. This covers drivers, passengers and pedestrians that are involved in traffic accidents unless the accident happened while the person was working. It’s important to note that health insurance will not cover medical bills from traffic accidents, the no-fault benefits are primary. If you are eligible (the accident didn’t happen while you were working,) no-fault will pay the bills for any ambulance and emergency room treatment resulting from a [...]
Drivers & Passengers: Keeping Safe in Rideshares
How Safe Are Rideshares? Companies such as Lyft, Uber, Juno and Via provide many of us with viable ways to get around New York City. It is also a source of income for many individuals. While appreciating the convenience these apps provide, it is important that both drivers and passengers take adequate precautions to ensure that trips are safe. Here are five tips we suggest you follow. Avoid Illegal Street hails NYC’s Taxi & Limousine Commission prohibits drivers of rideshare companies from picking up passengers that try to hail a ride. Only yellow and green cabs are allowed to pick up street hails. Besides risking hefty fines issued by NYC or TLC officers, rideshare drivers who [...]
Types of Damages Recoverable in Personal Injury Law
Generally, a personal injury case begins with establishing negligence, which is the recognition of a legal duty and breach of that legal duty. This means that there must be something expected, such as a property owner’s duty to keep the premises safe, and the “breach” might be oil left spilled on the floor for an unreasonable amount of time. It also needs to be proven that the “breach of duty” caused the injury claimed. This is known as “causation.” Just because the oil was on the ground, doesn’t mean it caused the accident, it must be proven that that it was slipping on the oil that caused the accident. Once negligence is proven, as above, the [...]
How Can a Car Accident Attorney Help Me?
You should contact a car accident attorney as soon as possible after you have an accident. You may have more rights than you think! Sometimes people are afraid to go to the hospital in the ambulance provided by the police because they are concerned about payment of the hospital bill. This is not something to worry about because the hospital bill is always paid by the car insurance scheme, even if all the cars are uninsured! An experienced Queens Car Accident Attorney can be a valuable source of support, helping get your medical bills paid, collect money for lost earnings, pain and suffering and other causes of action. How an Accident Attorney Can Help Your Case [...]
How to Avoid Being Dropped by Insurance Companies
Can My Insurance Company Drop Me? Here at Wittenstein & Wittenstein, rarely does a day go by without somebody asking us if their insurance company can drop them. People pay for insurance, but are afraid to use it for fear of being dropped. That’s why we thought it would be helpful to address this, and the related issue of when an insurance company can raise your rates. When Can My Insurance Company Drop Me? An insurance company can drop you whenever they’d like to, and no reason is required. Most of the time however, insurance companies like to keep their customers. So they’re not likely to drop you unless it starts to look like they’ll have [...]
5 Things You Need to Know About DUI in NYC
No one who is going out for a night out on the town expects to end up arrested and in the back of a police car. Unfortunately, that can happen when poor choices are made in regard to drinking and driving. Do you know what to expect with a DUI arrest? Here are five things you need to know about a DUI in New York City. Impaired to "Any Extent" The difference between DWI and DWAI can literally just be .01 percent. According to FindLaw, driving while intoxicated (DWI) is defined as having a blood alcohol content at .08 percent or higher. Driving while ability impaired (DWAI) could be assigned if the blood alcohol content is [...]