Employment Discrimination: How to Comply with NYC Laws

Employment discrimination is a punishable offense by law.The NYC Commission on Human Rights protects people from discrimination in the NYC workforce. Additionally, a person must belong to a company with 4 or more employees in order to be protected by the NYC Human Rights Law. The following are the protected classes under the Law:

Employment Discrimination in Companies
Employment discrimination hurts employees as well as employers.
  • – unemployment status
  • – sexual orientation
  • – race
  • – nationality
  • – gender identity
  • – disability
  • – skin color
  • – arrest record
  • – age
  • – status as victim of domestic violence
  • – religion
  • – pregnancy
  • – marital status
  • – gender
  • – credit history
  • – caregiver
  • – citizenship
Employment Areas Under the NYC Human Rights Law

The NYC Human Rights Law forbids employment discrimination in firing, hiring and work orders. It also prohibits prejudicial treatment in salary, benefits and promotions. Finally, discrimination is not allowed in discipline, performance evaluations or any decisions that affect employment.

Prohibited Employment Actions

The NYC Human Rights Law forbids employment discrimination against or preference for people based on the protected classes under the Law. This includes biased statements as well as interview questions. It also includes prejudicial job postings.

The Law prohibits sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is viewed as gender-based discrimination. Sexual harassment can also include:

  • – required sexual favors
  • – sexual conduct that unreasonably interferes with work performance
  • – sexual jokes
  • – innuendos
  • – sexual comments
  • – pressure for dates
  • – sexual touching and gestures
  • – sexual graffiti

It’s important to note that a sexual harasser can be a man or woman. Additionally, harassment can be verbal, physical or pictorial. Finally, a complainant could be anyone affected by the sexual behavior.

The law forbids employers from retaliating against employees because they opposed or took legal action against discrimination. It can also protect employees as long as they have good faith that their employers’ action is illegal. Furthermore, the law will protect employees even if they were mistaken.

Required Employment Accommodations

Employers must change work schedules or duties of an employee in order to accommodate their specific needs. The employee may have specific needs for a disability or for their religion. They may also have needs if they are pregnant or have been subject to acts of violence. Finally, the employer can be exempt from this law if the accommodation creates undue hardship.