New York State and New York City both have robust laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Nevertheless, this type of impermissible conduct continues to occur. If you have endured discrimination or harassment because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, know that New York has options to allow you to pursue justice for the harm you have suffered. To learn more about those options, you should speak to an experienced New York sexual orientation discrimination lawyer.
One way that employers can harm LGBTQ+ people is by placing them in settings that make them reasonably feel unsafe. The law says that you have a right to voice your concerns when that happens. If your employer punishes you for speaking up, that is retaliation, which is illegal.
Such was allegedly the case with one gay man who worked for a New York tour company.
V.L. began his job functioning as an entertainer. He later also worked as a server, busser, and runner in his employer’s kitchen.
In November 2023, a colleague who also worked in the kitchen “repeatedly used homophobic language,” including the f-word epithet. According to V.L.’s lawsuit, a supervisor told the man to stop using that language, but he defended its use and continued using the language after the supervisor left.
V.L. and several other employees sent a group email to the employer’s manager of entertainment and director of entertainment to state their discomfort with the man’s language.
A little more than a month later, the employer moved V.L.’s workspace, placing him near the man who had used homophobic language. V.L. emailed the director of entertainment to express his discomfort with the new working arrangements. The director emailed back, stating that “I accept your resignation, please return all uniform and equipment items. Your shifts have been removed from the schedule.” V.L. emailed back to state that he was not resigning and he simply wanted corrective action. He received no reply, and the employer did not schedule him for any more shifts.
The entertainer sued, alleging retaliation in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law. The employer filed a motion seeking dismissal, arguing that it did not punish the man after the November 2023 group email and that V.L.’s subsequent email did not constitute “protected activity” under the law.
‘Liberal’ Construction of the Law Helps Workers
The trial court denied the employer’s motion and permitted V.L. to continue pursuing his case. The court began by noting that New York City law specifically instructs courts “to interpret NYCHRL liberally.”
In New York, proving a retaliation case involves establishing three crucial elements: (1) that you engaged in a protected activity, (2) that your employer took an adverse action against you, and (3) that a link of causation ties the adverse action to the protected activity.
Given that background, the court found that V.L. had alleged enough to proceed. The entertainer, the court said, “sufficiently alleged that as a gay man, he believed he was subject to an unsafe work environment based on being relocated to work in close proximity with an individual who was known to have recently engaged in a violent homophobic outburst.”
Then, immediately after the entertainer “complained about having to work closely with an individual with a documented history of homophobic outbursts,” the employer fired him. That, the court concluded, “shows a causal nexus between the protected activity (a complaint about alleged discrimination) and an adverse employment action (the termination).”
If you believe that your employer has engaged in sexual orientation discrimination or that your employer retaliated against you for speaking out against discrimination, you may have legal options that you can take against your employer. The experienced New York retaliation attorneys at Phillips & Associates, PLLC, understand the importance of an LGBTQ+ worker’s right to a safe workplace and their right to speak up when confronted with sexual orientation discrimination and harassment. Our team is dedicated to fighting for those workers’ rights and helping them secure the compensation they deserve. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us online or call (866) 229-9441 to schedule a free and confidential consultation today.