Employees should be free to attend work without having to live in fear or feel like they are “walking on eggshells every day” because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, etc, yet too many do. Slurs and epithets are prevalent in too many workplaces. If you have encountered a hostile work environment because of your race, gender, or other protected characteristic, you need to know that you do not have to tolerate. An experienced New York hostile work environment lawyer can help you by reviewing your options and recommending the best course of action.
A case from neighboring Connecticut, based on the allegations presented, was one such hostile work environment.
The employer was a wholesale distributor of food and household products. The employees who sued were a group of Black workers who alleged that the employer “discriminated against black employees with respect to promotions, warehouse position assignments, pay, workplace discipline, and terminations.”
After the Black workers sued, the employer moved for summary judgment. That means the employer argued to the court that, even if the judge resolved all factual disputes in favor of the workers, the workers’ allegations could not establish a viable federal hostile work environment claim.
The court disagreed, rejecting the employer’s motion.
As the court explained to readers, to win a federal hostile work environment claim, “a plaintiff must prove “(1) harassment that was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment, creating an abusive working environment, and (2) a sufficient basis for imputing the conduct that created the hostile environment to her employer.”
The judge also pointed out that the federal “severe or pervasive” standard comprises both an objective and a subjective prong. In other words, the conduct the employee relies on as the basis for their hostile work environment claim “must be severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person would find it hostile or abusive, and the victim must subjectively perceive the work environment to be abusive.”
If the harassment is so frequent that the workplace is “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult,” then that is pervasive harassment. Even if not pervasive, harassment may be the basis of a winning claim if it is severe. The courts look to things like “whether it is physically threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether it unreasonably interferes with an employee’s work performance” to assess severity.
In this case, the workers met the required federal standards. D.L., for example, alleged that a coworker spat on his forklift and called him the n-word, preceded by the f-word. D.L. asserted that, after that incident, he felt afraid and sick to his stomach at work. Based on that evidence, the worker had sufficient grounds to overcome the employer’s motion for summary judgment and to continue pursuing his case.
The trial court noted that the “Second Circuit has found that, in the supervisor-subordinate context specifically, isolated use of the n-word does not foreclose a hostile work environment claim as a matter of law” and that “no single act can more quickly transform the nature of a work environment than the use of the n-word by a supervisor.”
Federal Versus NYS and NYC Standards
The warehouse workers brought their case in Connecticut, which is one reason they relied solely on federal law. Had the alleged harassment occurred in New York, the workers would have had stronger protections. The New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law have greater protections for workers. State and city laws do not require workers to prove that the harassment they endured was severe or pervasive. It is enough that the conduct constituted being treated less well because of a protected characteristic and was anything more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences.
Do you have questions about whether your work environment is sufficiently hostile to constitute a violation of the law? The knowledgeable New York City hostile work environment attorneys at Phillips & Associates PLLC can help. Our team has helped countless clients across the five boroughs, as well as Long Island and Westchester County, protect their right to a work environment free of illegal harassment. To learn more, contact us online or at (866) 229-9441 to schedule a free, confidential consultation today.