New York Employment Lawyer

Employment Discrimination

Discrimination occurs when an employer treats a worker less favorably because of a protected characteristic rather than because of performance or business need. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws cover a broader range of characteristics and, in the City's case, apply to employers of any size.

Discrimination is rarely announced. It usually appears as a pattern: exclusion from meetings or opportunities, a performance review that changes tone after a disclosure, a reorganization that removes one group, or a standard applied to one employee and not to others. Building that pattern into admissible evidence is the core of these cases.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. It generally takes two forms. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a job benefit is conditioned on submitting to sexual conduct. A hostile work environment arises when conduct is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment.

New York has moved well beyond the federal standard. Under amendments to the New York State Human Rights Law, harassment is unlawful when it rises above petty slights and trivial inconveniences, and an employee no longer needs to identify a comparator to prove the claim. The NYCHRL applies a similarly protective standard, and neither law requires the employer to be of a particular size.

Learn more about sexual harassment claims

Workplace Sexual Assault

A single act of sexual assault at work is generally severe enough to create a hostile work environment as a matter of law. Survivors in New York City may also have a claim under the Gender Motivated Violence Act, which provides a civil remedy for crimes of violence motivated by gender and which opened a look-back window allowing certain previously time-barred claims to be brought.

Our Firm has recovered multi-million dollar settlements under the GMVA and the NYCHRL in high profile New York matters. These cases are handled with discretion and with attention to the survivor's privacy at every stage.

Race Discrimination

Title VII, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws all prohibit discrimination based on race and color. In practice this means an employer may not use race as a factor in hiring, pay, assignments, promotion, discipline, or termination.

New York City law also protects against discrimination based on natural hair texture and protective hairstyles, an issue the City's Commission on Human Rights has addressed directly in guidance to employers.

Sex and Gender Discrimination

Employers may not treat workers less favorably because of sex or gender. This covers unequal pay, denial of assignments and promotions, and gender based harassment. New York State and City law expressly protect gender identity and gender expression, and New York's pay equity provisions restrict the ability of employers to justify pay disparities between employees performing substantially similar work.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is unlawful under federal law following the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, and it has been expressly prohibited under New York City and New York State law for longer. Protections extend to misgendering, refusal to use a chosen name, and denial of access to facilities consistent with an employee's gender identity.

Pregnancy Discrimination

New York law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, and the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act now imposes a comparable obligation nationwide. Accommodations can include schedule adjustments, seating, additional breaks, or temporary changes to duties.

Refusing an accommodation, demoting an employee after she discloses a pregnancy, or terminating her before or after leave may all give rise to a claim.

Caregiver Discrimination

The New York City Human Rights Law protects employees who provide direct and ongoing care for a child or a covered relative. This protection has no federal equivalent. An employer that penalizes a worker for caregiving responsibilities, or that assumes a caregiver is less committed and acts on that assumption, may be violating City law.

Disability Discrimination

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York law, an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified employee with a disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. New York City's definition of disability is notably broader than the federal one, and the City requires employers to engage in a cooperative dialogue with the employee about accommodation.

Failing to engage in that dialogue is itself a violation of the NYCHRL, separate from any failure to provide the accommodation.

Age Discrimination

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers aged 40 and over. New York State and City law go further and prohibit age discrimination without that threshold. Age claims often surface during restructurings, when experienced and higher-paid employees are disproportionately selected for elimination, or when a role is filled by a significantly younger hire shortly after a termination.

Religious Discrimination

Employers must reasonably accommodate an employee's sincerely held religious beliefs and practices, including scheduling around observances and permitting religious dress and grooming, unless the accommodation would create an undue hardship. The Supreme Court's decision in Groff v. DeJoy raised the burden an employer must meet to refuse a religious accommodation.

National Origin and Citizenship Status

Discrimination based on national origin, ancestry, accent, or perceived immigration status is unlawful. The New York City Human Rights Law expressly covers alienage and citizenship status, and City guidance treats threats to report an employee to immigration authorities as a form of unlawful discrimination and retaliation.

Criminal Conviction and Arrest Record Discrimination

New York provides unusually strong protection here. Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law limits when an employer may deny employment based on a conviction, requiring an individualized assessment of specific factors rather than a blanket exclusion. New York City's Fair Chance Act goes further and generally prohibits employers from asking about criminal history until after a conditional offer has been made.

Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment exists when unwelcome conduct tied to a protected characteristic becomes a condition of continued employment. Under New York State and City law the threshold is lower than the federal severe or pervasive test, and conduct that a court might once have dismissed as isolated may now support a claim.

Retaliation

It is unlawful to punish an employee for reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation, requesting an accommodation, or opposing conduct they reasonably believe is illegal. Retaliation can take the form of termination, demotion, schedule changes, exclusion, or a sudden shift in performance reviews.

Retaliation claims are frequently stronger than the underlying complaint, because the timing and the change in treatment are often documented even when the original discrimination is not. An employee can prevail on retaliation even if the underlying complaint does not succeed.

Whistleblower Claims

New York Labor Law Section 740 was substantially strengthened in 2022. It now protects employees who disclose activity they reasonably believe is unlawful or poses a substantial danger to public health or safety, and it no longer requires an actual violation to be proven. The protection extends to former employees and independent contractors, and the statute provides for a jury trial.

Our Firm has obtained substantial recoveries in whistleblower retaliation matters, including on behalf of groups of public employees.

Qui Tam and False Claims Act Matters

Whistleblowers who report fraud against the government under the federal False Claims Act or the New York False Claims Act help protect public funds and may receive a share of the money recovered. New York's statute is broader than the federal version and notably reaches certain tax fraud. These cases are filed under seal and are procedurally demanding, which makes early and experienced counsel important.

Wrongful Termination

New York is an at-will employment state, which means an employer may generally end the relationship for any reason or no reason. That rule has significant limits. A termination is unlawful if it is based on a protected characteristic, if it is retaliation for protected activity, if it breaches a contract or collective bargaining agreement, or if it violates a specific statutory protection.

Labor Law and Wage Claims

We assist clients with prevailing wage violations, unpaid overtime, minimum wage compliance, unlawful deductions, and misclassification of employees as independent contractors, under both the New York Labor Law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. New York's wage laws provide for liquidated damages and attorney's fees, and the state's look-back period is longer than the federal one.