Evidence-gathering is one of the most critical parts of any employment discrimination lawsuit. In the normal course of litigation, wrongfully terminated employees may use discovery tools to obtain evidence to prove their case. However, sometimes—due to mistrust in an employer, lack of knowledge about the legal system, or uncertainty that they even want to file a lawsuit—wrongfully terminated employees take…
Because anti-discrimination laws vary state-to-state, your rights in the workplace depend on the state in which you live or work. New York was the first state to enact a law prohibiting employment discrimination, which has recently been amended to include stronger protections for workers. Last summer, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law amendments to New York’s anti-discrimination, sexual harassment, and labor laws,…
Employer Anti-Discrimination Training Program The best employers realize they need to be proactive about creating and maintaining a diverse, collaborative, and equitable work environment. Rather than responding to problems after they occur, smart employers create conditions that prevent problems in the first place. Conditions that are taught through our Employer Anti-Discrimination Training program. We recognize that there is no such thing…
The devil is in the details. In this case, the details are pay data collected by the United States government in an attempt to quantify, if possible, gender or racial discrepancies in pay. With this in mind, during the Obama administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) decided to improve the quality of the pay data it already collected pursuant…
Although many employees describe what they face at work as a “hostile work environment,” frequently what they are experiencing or observing is evidence of another type of workplace discrimination. It is therefore important for employees who believe they are experiencing discrimination in the workplace—and the lawyers who represent them—to look closely and carefully at all of the facts. Such careful…
In today’s political climate, we have all seen how heated political debates can get. A perfectly pleasant Thanksgiving dinner with family can instantly turn hostile once the topic of politics comes up. But what happens when that political fervor carries over into the workplace? Can a private sector employee be fired for his or her political beliefs or political affiliation?…
On May 9, 2018, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio signed the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act (the “Act”), amending the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) to proactively combat sexual harassment in the workplace. The Act, passed by the New York City Council in the wake of the #MeToo movement, creates new obligations for NYC-based employers to…
Under the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), eligible employees are entitled to take up to 12 weeks of protected leave every year to attend to certain medical and family matters and up to 26 weeks to care for a family member injured during military service. Although the FMLA undoubtedly has made it easier for many employees to balance job requirements and family…
In a belated celebration of Valentine’s Day, I want to tell a love story. But don’t worry, this won’t get mawkish. This is a story of modern love, of commercial love, of a four-letter (sometimes, three-letter) slogan (“love” or “LUV”) perverted to discriminatory ends. (This also an aviation tale, and if you haven’t read my colleague Russell Kornblith’s recent post…
Absent a contract of employment, “at-will employment” is the predominant employment relationship in the United States. Under the system, an employer can fire an employee for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all. However, an employee may not be fired for an illegal reason, such as racial, gender, or other types of discrimination forbidden by law. And an…