Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP | 20th Anniversary 2004 - 2024
Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP | 20th Anniversary 2004 - 2024

Harassment

Recent Changes to NDAs in Employment Contracts and Settlement Agreements

For years, companies have used non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) and non-disparagement agreements in employment contracts and settlement agreements. These provisions primarily allow companies to protect sensitive business information, but can also be used to prevent workers from speaking about harassment and discrimination in the workplace. While some victims of workplace discrimination enjoy the assurance of privacy that comes with an NDA,…

read more

Protections Against Discrimination for Non-Binary Employees

Today (July 14) is International Non-Binary People’s Day.  According to a June 2021 study conducted by the Williams Institute, 1.2 million adults in the United States identify as non-binary.[1] “Non-binary” is an identity embraced by people who do not identify exclusively as men or women.[2]  A non-binary individual may identify as both a man and woman, somewhere in between, or as…

read more

New York Judicial Committee Issues Report and Recommendations on Gender Equity in State Court

In November 2020, the New York State Judicial Committee on Women in the Courts released its 2020 Gender Survey, detailing the treatment of women attorneys, litigants, and court employees in the state court system. While the study found that the treatment of women has improved markedly in the last few decades, it also found that significant gender bias continues to persist…

read more

The Impact of the New Title IX Regulations on K-12 Schools

On August 14, 2020, the Department of Education’s final regulations regarding sexual harassment under Title IX went into effect. This marks the final step in a controversial process that began in November 2018, when President Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos submitted a proposal to drastically overhaul many aspects of the Title IX guidelines instituted under the Obama administration. Title…

read more

An Open Letter To Yale University

We three, Anna McNeil, Ry Walker, and Ellie Singer are all current undergraduate students at Yale University, and we have all experienced sexual assault and harassment at Yale’s all-male fraternities. We are not alone. We believe many female and non-binary students have been sexually assaulted, groped, grabbed, grinded up against, verbally harassed, leered at, and denied admission based on their…

read more

“Take care of your kid situation”—Employers are Failing Working Moms During this Pandemic

As many schools go fully virtual this fall, working parents are faced with many questions about caring for and educating children while working.  Working moms also face an additional question: will my boss perceive me as less committed to my work because I am a woman with children?  Unfortunately, too often the answer is “yes.” That working moms face a…

read more

What Impact Is COVID-19 Having on Women in the Work Force?

According to a policy brief by the UN Secretary-General published on April 9, 2020, “across every sphere, from health to the economy, security to social protection, the impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated for women and girls simply by virtue of their sex.” The policy brief concludes that of the nearly 2.7 billion workers impacted by full or partial lockdown measures, women’s economic…

read more

The Equal Pay Act: Equal Total Compensation Is No Defense If Rate of Pay Is Unequal

Imagine this scenario: a corporation runs health spas, each of which is divided into a men’s division and a women’s division that operate on alternate days.  Male managers run the men’s division, while female managers run the women’s division.  Because there are far more female customers interested in spa services, the corporation decides to compensate the male managers and female…

read more

Prior Pay Cannot Be Used To Justify Paying Women Less In Ninth Circuit

“In 1963, Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act with a mandate as simple as it was profound: equal pay for equal work.” So begins the opinion in Rizo v. Yovino, a recent Ninth Circuit case holding that prior pay may not be used to justify a pay discrepancy between men and women—even if it is one factor among several. (In a…

read more

What Antidiscrimination Laws Protect Volunteer Healthcare Providers in New York?

These are extraordinary times for the healthcare system in the United States.  As of this writing, at least 206,233 Americans are known to have been infected with the coronavirus, and at least 4,576 of those individuals have died.  Of the Americans who have tested positive for the virus, at least 83,887 are from New York, the state hardest hit by the pandemic.  And the majority of those cases…

read more

Categories