A bill awaiting the expected signature of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo is going to make the lives of workplace discrimination victims much easier with comprehensive reforms of and new additions to existing law. Last month, the New York State Assembly passed a bill to strengthen the protections and rights of those who have been subjected to workplace discrimination and harassment. If signed into Continue Reading...
New York Expands Equal Pay Rights
The US Women’s Soccer Team, which won the World Cup this year, has been in a visible fight for equal pay on the international stage, as the US men’s team gets paid more but performs abysmally in comparison. On July 10, the day that New York City celebrated the women’s international triumph, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law that expanded the already-existing New York Pay Equity Law. It will take Continue Reading...
Hairstyle Discrimination in New York
Racist standards of appearance and hairstyle are present all over the country. Hairstyles and the natural hair of people of color—women of color, in particular—are often deemed by workplaces to look messy or unprofessional, and thus are banned or discouraged. In reality, these hairstyles usually just don’t align with the societal standards set by white people. New York state and New York City Continue Reading...
Can I Be Fired After I Resign?
Short answer is yes. New York is an employment-at-will state, meaning you can be fired, or you can resign, without cause or notice. Thus, if you were to give your employer two weeks notice that you were resigning, they could fire you right away or at any point before you officially depart. You don’t have to give them notice that you’re resigning, however; you could just resign immediately, Continue Reading...
NYC Officials Resign Quietly After Harassment Complaints
Kevin O’Brien, former chief of staff of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, was “quietly forced to resign after complaints of sexual harassment filed by two female city employees were substantiated,” according to a report by The New York Times. He and three other city officials exited their jobs in a similar manner: the reasons for their departures were not publicly announced. The city claimed it was to Continue Reading...
The Right to Disconnect in NYC: How Will It Work?
A bill currently pending in New York City Council would prohibit employers from requiring their employees to respond to work-related electronic communications outside the employees’ standard working hours. Proposed in an effort to relieve over-worked employees who may face repercussions if not accessible around the clock, this bill aims to allow workers to disconnect their job from their Continue Reading...
Gender Discrimination in New York
New York State, City, and federal law prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of sex or gender. Gender, or sex, discrimination occurs when an employee is treated unfairly or unequally based on the fact that the employee is a man or woman. The New York City Human Rights Law was amended in 2002 to change the definition of gender to include an individual’s actual or perceived sex. An Continue Reading...
Pregnancy Discrimination
Pregnancy discrimination occurs when an adverse employment action is taken against an employee because the employee is pregnant, plans to become pregnant, was recently pregnant, or recently gave birth. Adverse employment actions vary, and can include: firing a female employee because she is pregnant, refusing to hire a qualified female applicant because she is pregnant, or failing to restore an Continue Reading...
Severance Agreements in New York
Severance packages are not required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). However, most employers throughout the country provide these payments to terminated employees. Because each employer is different, it is important to look at your company’s personnel manual, or policy, on severance packages. Employers who provide severance packages usually have a formula to calculate the benefits based Continue Reading...
Overtime in NY
What constitutes overtime in NY? New York overtime is a hotly contested area and is the focus of many lawsuits by employees who have been denied overtime pay or have been misclassified as an exempt employee who is not entitled to overtime pay. These are the two most common forms of overtime in NY litigation. The first category is denial of overtime. An employee working in New York is Continue Reading...