New York Discrimination Legal Questions

Dear Madam - No responsible attorney is going to give you advice, on a chat board, regarding statute of limitations issues.  That said, and depending on your particular facts and circumstances, you may well have a viable case against your municipal employer for unequally paying you based on your gender.  In such a lawsuit, you may be able to recover triple damages.  See my recent article entitled "What Rights To Equal Pay Does An Executive Or A Professional Have In New York?" < https://www.davidrichlaw.com/what-rights-to-equal-pay-does-an-executive-or-a-professional-have-in-new-york/ >.  Today, you should call an experienced New York City Equal Pay Lawyer and set up an initial consultation about your matter. Sincerely, David S. Rich... Read More

Dear Sir or Madam - I'm sorry that your governmental ex-employer treated you badly.  Generally speaking, the time periods within which to sue for unequal pay depend upon the particular statute under which you are suing.  See generally my recent article entitled "What Rights To Equal Pay Does An Executive Or A Professional Have In New York?" < https://www.davidrichlaw.com/what-rights-to-equal-pay-does-an-executive-or-a-professional-have-in-new-york/ >.  Depending upon your particular facts and circumstances, you may well have viable claims against your government ex-employer for unequally paying you based on your gender.  Today, you should call a knowledgeable New York City Employment Lawyer about your matter.   Sincerely, David Rich... Read More

There is no law which requires employers to conduct investigations. However, it is good practice and makes sense to do so in order to prepare to defend whatever action the employer decides to take. Sometimes the Justice Center requests that employers conduct the initial investigation and provide its findings to the Justice Center. Cooperative employers do so but they can take whatever time they think they need to complete that investigation. This looks like a case where you need to retain legal counsel to defend you before the Justice Center. The Justice Center is no joke. They sometimes refer cases to a district attorney's office and work closely with law enforcement when they have to. Vulnerable citizens include minors, elders, and vulnerable persons with disabilities. All of those persons are very protected. If an allegation involves any of those types of persons then you will definitely want to retain legal counsel. Protected persons do not even have to testify at those hearings. The investigator can testify on behalf of the person they interviewed and they can introduce business records, sometimes medical records, and even police reports to support findings. Remember that these cases, unless they are accepted by the district attorney's office, are not criminal. But that does not mean that they are very, very serious. The burden of proof is much lower than for a criminal case so if the evidence is strong against an employee they could, depending on the severity of the allegation, be placed on an exclusion list after a certain number of points and be unable to work in the industry dealing with vulnerable persons. You need to retain defense counsel to examine all of the allegations, all of the evidence, and decide your best course of action. You may be waiting a very, very long time for resolution. Seek legal counsel now! This is not legal advice and there is no lawyer client relationship. These are just suggestions from a lawyer who has appeared before the Justice Center which is serious business.... Read More

Congratulations! Less than 25% of filed complaints with the New York State Division of Human Rights receive a finding of probable cause. But that does not mean that you are home free or win. The actual reality is that most employment law or employment discrimination cases settle. The ones which eventually are lost are ones where the parties did not calculate or assess the actual damages correctly or did not present all of the necessary evidence such as witnesses or documents into the record at hearing. If your facts are strong you should retain an employment lawyer. That is because the Division or more accurately an administrative law judge now has the power to force an employer to pay the employee's own private attorney's fees. That only happens when the employee wins at a hearing. But attorneys' fees paid by the employer are not that common because strong cases settle. If a skilled lawyer argues the facts persuasively almost all cases settle. The main reason they don't is because one or both sides have not calculated damages correctly. That is one reason why some of us New York employment lawyers have made videos on YouTube explaining these issues. Employment Law Reality Check is a common problem for many of these complaints. We wish the damages were huge for every case but it takes strong facts and solid witnesses to obtain sizeable damage awards. The Division schedules pre-hearing settlement conferences and when both sides have lawyers providing an Employment Law Reality Check they often meet somewhere in the middle and resolve the matter. Mediation or conciliation is best. A hearing means the likely potential of losing or of having the decision or final order go up on appeal for years. A big reason to negotiate and settle is to avoid the appeals and stress of years of litigation. Call some employment lawyers who can invest the time into your claim. Division lawyers are great but they have hundreds of cases and only so many hours in a day. Also, they sometimes may not want to provide an employment law reality check. It's not their fault. They just have to follow the law and may not want to predict best or worst case scenarios not to upset you. Private lawyers don't have an issue upsetting their own clients because their own paychecks and livelihood depend on getting the best results for each client instead of serving all of New York's citizens and doing what's best for everyone. Those goals are similar bit not identical and neither goal is wrong.... Read More

You cannot handle this without spending money. You need a lawyer. If your website is ADA compliant and you refuse to settle out of principle, you must pay to defend yourself. If you'd rather make a cost-benefit decision to pay the nuisance plaintiff to go away an amount less than it will take to defend yourself, it'll be quick but there will still be money involved. Your representatives wrote these laws and they can fix them. Until they do, this a cost of doing business.... Read More

Could you have performed "physical labor instead of my administrative duties as shift leader"? If not, why not? Do you suffer with some physical condition or limitation in performing physical labor? Did your employer know of such limitations? If yes, have you signed any contracts or agreements in the past 7 days which you might be able to rescind or take back? Have you discussed any of these facts with labor and employment lawyers? Will you keep looking for work and continue to work? Have you applied for unemployment benefits? Did the employer know that you were considering retiring or had you shared that you wanted to retire? There are way too many questions which an employment lawyer might ask you. But being forced out, what we call constructively discharged, has a very specific legal meaning. And what you told your employer and what they knew about you is key. None of these claims are straight forward or easy. But they all depend on the specific facts of the potential client. And the only way to flush them out is to speak with an experienced labor and employment lawyer. In today's remote world there are many competent employment lawyers across New York State and some will even talk with you no charge. Good luck.... Read More

No one can answer your question with any degree of certainty without reviewing your contracts, agreements, and legal documents. However, the general rule is that an employee is either able to perform the essential functions of their job or they are not. In some situations where physical or mental conditions prevent working employees may recover short term disability benefits while they are on Family Medical Leave. Remember that FMLA leave is unpaid unless the employee has accrued benefits or unless some policy of insurance covers their inability to work. Collecting benefits from any source due to disability generally requires full disclosure. For example, if an employee is receiving insurance benefits and returns to work that employee would inform both the insurance carrier and the employer that they have returned to work and both would want to know how much income the employee is earning, having returned to some type of work. Failing to inform insurance carrriers while receiving benefits or informing an employer that an employee is taking FMLA leave while working elsewhere could be fraudulent. That could include charges of insurance fraud although you should pay an attorney to review all of your documentation before working or continuing to make claims. You listed harassment as the area of discrimination or hostile workplace but there were no facts indicating that you were harassed. Hostile workplaces or harassment can occur due to race, religion, sex, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, national origin and any one or more other protected classes of employees. Stressful or uncomfortable or uncivil supervisors are not necessarily harassing nor unlawful. Many employees work for unpleasant supervisors but that does not make those supervisors "hostile" or lawbreaking if they are not targeting you or others because of the protected class or classes to which you belong. Is your stress caused by something you cannot change or control. Is your supervisor targeting you because of your disability or regarding you as disabled or because of some other protected class you belong to? This should be flushed out with an employment lawyer. You definitely should consult with an employment lawyer to confirm that you are not yourself potentially in violation of benefit recovery laws. Stress by itself may or may not be a disability. It depends on its severity and how it was caused or its origination. Remember that workers compensation claims without physical injuries or unusual assaults are rarely compensable and those claims are very fact specific. If your claim does not qualify as work comp it might be covered under STD but that would not necessarily mean that it was caused by a hostile workplace or discriminatory. It also depends on whether the stress stems from general workplace stresses or unlawful discrimination targeting one or more protected classes of employees. Get a legal consultation from employment lawyers sooner than later. Good luck.... Read More

Harassment is usually associated with sex. A hostile work environment or a hostile workplace can be created by discrimination of various sorts. Hostile workplaces can be motivated by sex, race, religion, national origin, disability, perceiveed disability or various other protected classes of persons. Everyone is protected by sex, gender, and race discrimination because we are all classified by those classes which cannot be changed or only with some extensive and often expensive measures. Schools prohibit bullying of students within those institutions. But employees generally are not protected from workplaces which are not nice, not civil, or unpleasant. Supervisors, in general, can be mean to the employees they supervise. They just can't be mean to one or more employees because of an employee's race, sex, gender, religion, disability, national origin, etc... You get the picture. So we are always on the lookout for discrimination, if we can prove it. And in many cases nasty or unpleasant supervirsors get away with it. What you should be careful about is not becoming involved in a personal dispute or disagreement with your supervisor. A supervisor who does not like someone might be able to get rid of them in a non-discriminatory way and there is nothing illegal about that. There are some very sneaky, sometimes nasty, sometimes slightly unhinged supervisors who get away with some pretty bad behavior. Make sure you are not insubordinate. If the supervisor directs an employee to act the employee should do so. Take notes. Pay attention. Keep a lookout for discrimination and document it if you hear or see it. But this supervisor has already sent you a message that they might want you to leave. If this is not the right place start looking for a job now. Because supervisors don't have to act perfectly and they can fire someone for absolutely no reason. Unless you have evidence of discrimination, always a challenge to prove, consider moving on if this is not the place because nasty, evil supervisors are usually not the first ones for firing. Sometimes it's the good employees who had enough and spoke out one too many times who are asked to leave first and that's not illegal. Call the NLRB about unionizing at work.... Read More

As a federal employee you need to consult with employment lawyers who focus on or specialize in representing federal employees. Although the general anti-discrimination laws apply to federal employees the rules and procedures for handling their claims are rather unique. Most of us in the City know enough to defer those claims to attorneys who handle them regularly and are therefore more familiar with the codes, regulations, rules, procedures applicable to federal employees. There are a few attorneys in NYC with NELA or in the greater DC area also with NELA. If an attorneys focuses or specializes in federal employment matters they can likely handle your claim from anywhere since the very specific questions they ask you will reveal that both of you understand the challenges of federal employment and federal government claims.  Google NELA and that should provide a list of options to choose from. Good luck.... Read More

Maybe. But not for the reasons you mentioned. If a colleague / co-worker discriminates against you or causes you to suffer adverse terms, conditions of employment then you may have a claim against both the employee and your employer. Think Title VII, because of race, religion, national origin, color, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, age, and more. A hostile workplace, more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences, may be actionable across New York State. But you will likely want to work with an employment lawyer and may have to gather evidence to support such a claim. We rarely if ever suggest that anyone resign. Quitting is a last resort and almost never suggested. Work with an employment lawyer. Some of us work with clients or potential clients for a couple years to gather evidence and try to help the employee stay on the job while gathering evidence. Employees who hang in there, record information, and truly endure hostile, sometimes abusive workplaces, can recover respectable damages. Call some employment lawyers before you take it on yourself. Never easy claims.... Read More

Whenever a government regulation or policy impacts a suspect class like race or a fundamental right, like marriage,  it is subjected to the strict scrutiny test in court which means that the government has the burden of proving that the regulation is necessary to achieve a compelling state policy objective. However whenever a government regulation impacts or discriminates based on the category of age, The burden of proof to uphold the Constitutionality of that law is the rational basis test, which only requires proof that the regulation is Rationally related to achieve any legitimate state purpose. Because children have a much lower incidence to contract Covid and if they contract Covid, they have a far higher recovery rate than an adult, the regulation would pass the rational basis test because the age discrimination is rationally relate to Protect both children and adults from the virus. But because children have more of a natural immunity from the virus than adults it isn't necessary for them to have a vaccine. Accordingly, The court would most likely uphold the law even though it discriminate based on age, because it is rationally related to the legitimate purpose as discussed above.... Read More

Females' pay should not be less than that of males with equal experience, duties, responsibilities. Employers will raise defenses to such a complaint or charge. An employer's defense may be based on a seniority or merit system which measures the quantity and quality of work or some other "bona fide factor", which might include education, training and experience, but not the male's gender or membership in another protected class such as race, national origin, etc... You should call some employment lawyers. These claims don't come up that often because employees tend not to share their pay rates with each other. And some fear for their own jobs although retaliation is illegal. Without retaliation protection it would be next to impossible to prove such claims. These claims can be good ones, are rarely slam dunks, and sometimes heavily litigated. We need more facts to make a preliminary analysis. All calls are confidential to protect potential clients considering legal action. All licensed lawyers are bound by state ethics rules applicable to the Bar.... Read More

Apply for unemployment. Unless you committed gross misconduct you should receive benefits. On the other hand, if you committed gross misconduct you most likely will not. Maybe pay an employment lawyer to review any agreements, handbooks, policies you were given which might? create a contractual claim. Most of those claims would be under the jurisdiction of small claims court. 1) Apply and secure unemployment, honestly. If they deny you then you will have the chance to timely request a hearing and to present evidence and cross examine witnesses regarding the procedures they claim you did not follow and what reasons they might have for waiting 4 years to tell you that. 2) Consider paying an employment lawyer to read, review, and analyze all of your correspondence, offer letters, employee handbook, etc... to see whether you might have a claim for breach of contract. 3) If you already have the documents and have some basis to believe that an agreement or contract was in fact broken you could try filing a claim in small claims court. The amount potentially owed to you is probably under $10,000 anyway and most of those courts' jurisdiction was raised to $10,000 if I am not mistaken but since I don't appear in those courts I don't know. Check with the clerk of court in your county. Not legal advice. No lawyer client relationship.... Read More

Apply for the new jobs. Assuming you are the most qualified if they do not hire you maybe they are discriminating. But if they just want to pay everyone less money that might be ok. It's a complicated analysis. Sometimes they are getting rid of older workers, sometimes they are flushing out injured or disabled and sometimes they just want to hire their buddies. The first two reasons are often illegal. The buddies hiring is sometimes perfectly ok. But if employees tried to unionize and those employees are being pushed out that's probably illegal. Call some employment lawyers statewide. There are plenty of us everywhere.... Read More

Sounds like a government job. If so use FOIL. Get copies of all the personnel files of each younger candidate preferred over you. Then take your complete personnel file and those of the successful candidates to an employment lawyer. That lawyer may ask you to FOIL additional documents. But for your age would you have been the most qualified for each position? Tough cases. Speak with many lawyers as I suggest in you tube videos at employment law reality check.... Read More

Depends on the facts. Could we present a plausible theory of discrimination? That is never easy. You did not retain legal counsel before filing charges because? How are you mitigating damages? What do you want? Many questions unanswered. Call us to discuss. A lawsuit in federal court will often take 2 to 3 years assuming the case is not dismissed at some point. Employment Law Reality Check.com... Read More

Your wife should schedule a consult with an employment lawyer. We will probably not recommend grieving anyone. We will help her: 1) Determine whether this principal is a good fit for her. She probably needs to start applying for other jobs ASAP. 2) We will help her try to keep her job. She needs to have good performance evaluations or she might risk losing even a union job. We can coach her on that. 3) We will explain in detail why she needs to keep her union happy. The best way is for her to get involved with the union. Bottom line. She is in a political job. And those jobs today demand results. If the principal she works for or the union rep fears for their own jobs that will trickle down to her. Have her gather all her performance evaluations and start calling us employment lawyers. We can help guide her but the decision of whether she wants to keep her job will be hers to make in the end. Grieving the principal would not have been our first choice. She needs an employment lawyer to retain ASAP!  ... Read More

I am very sorry to hear about your ordeal. It sounds like you may be a victim of age discrimination. If you are over the age of 40 and are being discrimianted (singled out, etc.) you should call an employment attorney at once. Time is of the essense.  You can call the Akin Law Group and speak to one of our attorneys at 212-825-1400. The consultation is free and confidential.... Read More

You have to be able to perform your job duties with or without reasonable accommodations. You have a duty to ask for an accommodation if you need one. If you did not think you needed one went to work and injured yourself you might have a work comp claim. Seek a lawyer who handles those cases. If you just aggravated or exacerbated an old injury that may or may not be compensable under new York's comp law. Either way sounds like you need an immediate consultation with a workers compensation lawyer.    ... Read More

Is an employer not allowed to make sure that its employees possess documentation to lawfully work in the U.S.? Many people work unlawfully but are still entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay. But that does not prevent deportation. You probably dont want to be deported (since you are without U.S. passport) so a good choice might be to provide whatever documentation the employer requests. Otherwise you might get paid for all the work you have done so far but be located in some other country when the payment is made.... Read More