The New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law are important and powerful laws. New York law instructs courts to construe these statutes broadly in favor of those who have suffered harm resulting from discrimination and harassment. This requirement has many practical impacts. One of those, as a recent gender discrimination case illustrates, is that you may be entitled to seek justice in New York even if neither you nor your employer is based in New York. If you believe you experienced discrimination or harassment in New York, even if you are not a New Yorker, get in touch with a New York employment discrimination lawyer to find out what legal options you have.
In that recent gender discrimination case, the employee, J.A., worked as a sales account executive for a global medical device company. According to the woman’s lawsuit, her employer assigned her to service the account of a major teaching hospital in New York City. The employer allegedly made this decision with “full knowledge that she would be subjected to sexual harassment by a specific manager” at the hospital.
The executive’s job required numerous trips to the hospital and interactions with the manager. The manager, as expected, engaged in “traumatic and harmful sexual harassment misconduct,” according to the lawsuit. Allegedly, the employer required the woman to continue servicing the account, despite its knowledge of the harassment. The woman’s manager even “coached her to ‘lean into’ the sexual harassment” so that the hospital would continue using the employer’s services, according to the complaint.
The executive sued in New York County, alleging gender discrimination, a hostile work environment, and negligence under the NYCHRL and the NYSHRL.
The employer moved to dismiss, arguing that the executive had a fundamental problem. The employer contended that because it was a New Jersey entity with no physical presence in New York and the executive was a New Jersey resident, it could not be liable for violations of the NYSHRL or the NYCHRL.
In an important recent decision, the Appellate Division rejected that reasoning. In its opinion overturning the trial court’s dismissal order, the appellate court highlighted several key points.
Location of the ‘Impact’ is Key
The court pointed out that it had long held that the NYCHRL is “uniquely broad and remedial,” and that, following the legislature’s 2019 amendments, the NYSHRL must also “be construed liberally for the accomplishment of the remedial purposes.” In a practical sense, that liberal construction means that the NYCHRL and the NYSHRL “prohibit discrimination against nonresidents where the discriminatory conduct has an impact within New York.”
The court concluded that the executive’s allegations clearly met the standard of New York’s impact test, especially considering New York’s liberal standards designed to give anti-discrimination laws like the NYCHRL and the NYSHRL their maximum effect. In J.A.’s case, she alleged that her employer assigned her to service a New York City-based account, knowing that the assignment would require her to make numerous trips to the city and be physically present at the hospital, where she would be subject to a pattern of traumatic sexual harassment while in New York. In sum, the executive’s residency outside New York State did not stop her from suing in New York, and did not preclude the application of the NYCHRL or NYSHRL “where the alleged misconduct occurred in New York City and affected plaintiff while she was working there.”
Both New York City and New York State’s anti-discrimination laws are designed to have a broad reach. That means many things, one of which is that they may allow people from outside New York to seek justice here if the impact of their discrimination was felt here. To learn more about your discrimination case under New York law, talk to the experienced New York employment discrimination attorneys at Phillips & Associates, PLLC. Our team has the knowledge and skills you need to provide you with the finest-quality legal advice and advocacy. Contact us online or call (866) 229-9441 to set up a free and confidential consultation today.