New York Employment Attorney Blog — Published by New York Employment Lawyers

January 10, 2022

A New York Lawsuit Again Puts a Spotlight on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the Fashion Industry

New York City is undeniably one of the primary centers of high fashion. Amidst the glamour and beauty is an uglier side, which is the sexual harassment and abuse that many workers in the industry endure. Many harassment victims are young and relatively naïve and inexperienced, while their harassers are wealthy, powerful, and very well-connected, making not just sexual harassment but also retaliation for opposing harassment ever-present risks. However, with an experienced New York City sexual harassment lawyer advocating for you, you have the potential to fight back, win, and hold your harasser accountable.

Sexual harassment and misconduct in the fashion industry have again been in the headlines recently. The spark for one recent round of stories of sexual misconduct was a Summer 2021 lawsuit filed here in New York. The plaintiff was model and actress Carré Sutton, who was known as Carré Otis in her earlier modeling days.

The woman’s lawsuit asserted that, Gerald Marie, the European head of the modeling agency that employed her sexually assaulted and raped her on repeated occasions. The agency head also allegedly trafficked her to other wealthy, powerful men, including an unnamed Italian billionaire, according to a New York Post report.

December 30, 2021

Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings! Here’s Some Reminders About Workplace Religious Discrimination that the Holiday Season Can Provide

by Phillips & Associates

December represents a time of great celebration for adherents of a wide variety of religions. Most people are keenly familiar with some celebrations (like Christmas and Hanukkah) and probably less so others (like Bodhi Day and Yule). What all of these have in common is that they occur in conjunction with various religions — religions whose adherents, regardless of their numbers, are entitled to protection from workplace religious discrimination. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, a member of a smaller religion, or an atheist, you shouldn’t be judged at work by your beliefs and, if you have been so harmed, you should get in touch with a knowledgeable New York religious discrimination lawyer.

As religious adherents enter into seasonal celebrations, some may need workplace accommodations to allow them to meet their religious obligations. Some issues of religious discrimination and workplace accommodations are clear.

For example, if you’re an Orthodox Jew or a Christian in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, you have special Sabbath-related requirements that restrict the hours you are available for work on Saturdays and some Friday evenings in the winter. Unless the employer has a reasonable basis for believing your religious practice is “insincere,” then the employer must make reasonable accommodations as long as those accommodations don’t create an unfair burden on the employer’s business.

December 22, 2021

How Discrimination Based on Color (“Colorism”) Differs from Racism and How It Can Be the Basis of a Successful New York Discrimination Lawsuit

by Phillips & Associates

For those who are not Latino or African American, it may be easy to assume that all Latinos or African Americans fall monolithically into one group. This is not true, and it is one reason why the law in New York protects people based on not only their race, ethnicity, and/or national heritage, but also their color. Discrimination based on color (or “colorism”) is very real and, if it has happened to you at work, then you should reach out as soon as possible to an experienced New York City employment discrimination lawyer.

Back in March of this year, Pew Research surveyed more than 3,300 Latinos across the USA about issues of skin color and discrimination. Last month, the study results revealed that nearly 2/3 (62%) of those surveyed said that having darker skin color was a disadvantage, with more than half (57%) saying that darker skin color affected their daily lives.

According to one Latino man’s lawsuit from a few years ago, that precise problem of workplace colorism was egregiously on display right here in New York City when he worked at one of the Upper West Side’s most famous Italian restaurants.

December 16, 2021

Seeking Justice and Safeguarding Privacy: When You Can Use a Fictitious Name to Litigate Your New York Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

by Phillips & Associates

Because sexual harassment actions are inherently intertwined with issues of sex and sexuality and almost always involve a worker who was victimized in a highly intimate way, a victim may feel torn between pursuing justice and protecting her privacy. Fortunately, though, there may be an option for those who have endured workplace sexual harassment to both hold accountable those responsible and safeguard her privacy. Doing so may require the deployment of a unique set of civil litigation tools, which is why you should make sure you have an experienced New York City sexual harassment lawyer handling your case.

A sexual harassment case making its way through the New York courts right now is an example of this. The worker who suffered the alleged harassment was, at the time, a 22-year-old woman who had just graduated college and had never before held a professional job when she started working in the marketing department of a business and finance publisher in September.

According to the complaint, the woman’s direct supervisor began harassing her just a few weeks into her employment by making unwanted advances. By January, the harassment had allegedly escalated to unwanted touching and inappropriate emails and messages. By February, the harassment escalated to drugging and raping the woman, with a second rape occurring one month later, according to the lawsuit.

December 8, 2021

Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination in Gaming Workplaces, and What It May Mean for You in New York

by Phillips & Associates

Women across almost all career fields have experienced sexual harassment. Recent news reports appear to indicate that, in many of the tech fields, workplaces are especially rife with sexual harassment. Whether you are a woman in a STEM field working in a workplace heavily dominated by men or you work in a place where the vast majority of employees are women, you are not immune from sexual harassment on the job. If that has happened to you, do not delay in getting in touch with a knowledgeable New York City sexual harassment lawyer.

Many people are familiar with the social media hashtag #gamergate, which refers to incidents of women in the gaming community being targeted for harassment and discrimination because of their gender. That problem of harassment and discrimination against women within the world of gaming, based on recent reports, extends beyond just online communities and also includes gaming workplaces.

One of the more recent examples of this problem within the field of gaming was a company based in Southern California. The alleged sexual harassment was so widespread that the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) undertook a two-year investigation and, based on what the department found in that investigation, brought a lawsuit against the company this past summer, Slate reported.

November 30, 2021

A New York City Professor Secures an Important Victory in Her Federal Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Her Employer and Her Former Supervisor

by Phillips & Associates

Few workplace relationships will impact your job more than your relationship with your immediate supervisor, which is why few situations are more intimidating and stressful than when your supervisor sexually harasses you. It is for this reason that the law erects a special rule of employer liability for situations where your harasser was also your supervisor. With a skilled New York City sexual harassment lawyer on your side, your supervisor sexual harassment case may allow you to recover substantial compensation.

Of course, workplace roles are often fluid and your supervisor last year may not be the same person as your supervisor this year. So, you may wonder, what happens if my harasser was my former supervisor? A recent sexual harassment case from here in New York City looked directly at that question.

In that lawsuit, the alleged victim of harassment was S.D., a “black female of African national origin” who began working for a college in New York City in 2005. In 2014, while working on her Master’s thesis, S.D. sought the assistance of C.A., a professor in the college’s Africana Studies department.

November 23, 2021

A New York City Worker’s Case Against a Supervisor’s Unwelcome ‘Hands On’ Conduct and Comments Survives Summary Judgment

by Phillips & Associates

Statistical research has clearly shown that sexual harassment is widespread in the restaurant and foodservice industry. Of all Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims, more than one-third (37%) are claims submitted by restaurant workers. Certainly, one of the factors fueling that number is the financial insecurity many food service workers live with, but don’t let that stop you from speaking up if you’ve been harmed by sexual harassment. Instead, reach out to a knowledgeable New York City sexual harassment lawyer today and find out what legal steps you may be able to take.

M.W. was a food service worker who, according to his lawsuit, endured some very demeaning and terrible forms of sexual harassment during his time working at the Freedom Tower in Manhattan. The Brooklyn man alleged that the perpetrator of his sexual harassment was his supervisor.

Sexual harassment can occur in multiple forms, including unwelcome touching and inappropriate comments or jokes. M.W. allegedly endured both forms of harassment.

November 16, 2021

A New York State Trial Judge’s Secretary Alleges ‘Quid Pro Quo’ Sexual Harassment that Went on For Years

by Phillips & Associates

Everyone in New York has the right to earn a living and to do their jobs without their workplace fates controlled by what they will or won’t do sexually for their bosses. If you’ve had your pay, your rank, your hours, your assignments, or your continued employment made conditional on the provision of something sexual, then that very possibly is illegal sexual harassment and you may be entitled to recover substantial compensation as a result. To find out the range of legal options that exist for you, reach out to a knowledgeable New York sexual harassment lawyer right away.

“Quid pro quo” sexual harassment, at its center, is rooted in power dynamics. One person, recognizing that he/she holds a position of great power and influence generally or, at least, greater power and influence than another worker, wields that influence (or threatens to use it) to extract sex from the less-powerful party. That less-powerful person perhaps acquiesces because they fear the economic ramifications of losing their job and/or being “blackballed” from getting another job. In other words, they acquiesce because they feel powerless.

The allegations made in a recent sexual harassment complaint from upstate make for a classic example of “quid pro quo” harassment. According to the alleged victim, who was a secretary for a trial court judge, the harassment began almost as soon as the judge took office, and went on for years.

November 9, 2021

A New Bill the Governor Just Signed Could Provide You With Massive Help In Pursuing Your Workplace Discrimination Case in New York

by Phillips & Associates

When you have experienced discrimination at work that has caused you real harm, you probably have a lot of questions and many deep concerns. You understand that your best chance of success is through retaining a knowledgeable New York employment discrimination lawyer but you worry, “How am I going to pay for all this?”

Fortunately for workers like you, there is good news from Albany. Earlier this month, Governor Hochul signed a bill that expands what you potentially can recover as part of an award in a successful workplace discrimination lawsuit. Under the law as it previously existed, you often couldn’t get an award that covered the cost of your attorney’s fees and the fees charged by your expert witnesses if yours was an employment discrimination action.

That all changed with the new bill that has been signed into law by the governor. Under the amended statute, an award of attorney’s fees and expert witness fees is potentially available in all types of discrimination cases, including workplace discrimination actions.

October 29, 2021

When a Nominally Lateral Job Reassignment Can Be a Valid Basis for a Discrimination Lawsuit in New York

by Phillips & Associates

Thomas Jefferson famously said that “all men are created equal.” As everyone knows, however, not all jobs are created equal, even those with the same title or rank at the same place of employment. A smaller or larger team beneath you and smaller or greater responsibilities can mean extremely important distinctions in prestige, and therefore differences in the overall benefits or advantages of one job versus another. If you’ve received a reassignment that your employer has couched as a “lateral move” that you recognize as really a demotion, and that reassignment happened because of your sex, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, or other protected characteristic, get in touch with a New York employment discrimination lawyer without delay to discuss your options.

L.P. was one of those workers, according to her sex discrimination lawsuit. She had started with the NYPD in 1987 and, by 2018, had risen to the rank of three-star chief and served as the department’s Chief of Crime Control Strategies. In 2019, after the department’s Chief of Detectives was promoted to Commissioner, L.P. expressed an interest in the now-vacant Chief of Detectives role.

The woman did not eceive that appointment, however. (It went to a man.) L.P., instead, was appointed to the role of Chief of Collaborative Policing. Due to a departmental reorganization instituted by the new Commissioner, her new position involved reporting to a new civilian Deputy Commissioner over the Bureau of Community Partnerships.