Bronx

Workplace Rights Attorneys Helping Bronx Residents

At Phillips & Associates, our Bronx employment lawyers understand the stress that you may feel if you experience a dispute with your employer over how much you are paid or over employment decisions like hiring, termination, promotions, changes in job structuring, reassignments, or bonuses. You may have options to consider if you have been mistreated, including the possibility of filing a claim against your employer for damages. We are committed workplace rights attorneys and can guide you through claims arising from sexual harassment and all forms of employment discrimination. Our firm also can assist plaintiffs in matters related to wage and hour violations, severance agreements, retaliation, and wrongful termination, among others.

Employment Disputes in New York

Federal, state, and local laws prohibit discrimination based on many protected characteristics, including race, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and disability. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on a disability. It requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation that would enable a qualified employee to do their job in spite of a disability, unless providing the reasonable accommodation would pose a hardship. New York law also requires employers to provide accommodations for disabled workers.

A reasonable accommodation under New York law is an action that allows an employee or prospective employee to perform the job in question in a reasonable manner. Accommodations could include acquiring equipment, offering support services for those with impaired vision or hearing, restructuring the job, providing interpreters, or modifying the work schedule. As with federal law, the employer may argue that the requested modification imposes an undue hardship. Reasonable accommodations do not include providing personal care needs like a personal care assistant or wheelchair.

In another example, federal and New York laws also require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for a sincerely held religious belief unless doing so is an undue hardship. Religious beliefs are protected even if they are not part of a traditional, organized religion. Whether there is an undue hardship is a fact-specific question in which the court will look at the type of workplace, the job duties, the cost incurred, and the effect on business.

Two common forms of discrimination related to an employee’s or job applicant’s gender are sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. Sexual harassment claims may be based on quid pro quo harassment, which consists of direct requests for sexual favors in exchange for taking or not taking an employment action. They also may arise from a hostile work environment, which develops when an employee is a repeated target of offensive conduct, possibly consisting of comments and less overt forms of harassment that would be disturbing to a reasonable person in a similar situation. Meanwhile, pregnancy discrimination requires employers to provide accommodations to pregnant women that are similar to those that other temporarily disabled employees would receive. Employers may not take adverse actions against pregnant workers based on pregnancy or related conditions.

Consult an Experienced Employment Lawyer in the Bronx

If you are involved in an employment dispute, you should explore your options with a Bronx employment attorney at Phillips & Associates as soon as possible. We understand the stress that workers feel when their employment conditions are adversely affected, and we work hard to assert their rights. Contact Phillips & Associates at (866) 229-9441 or use our online form to set up a free consultation with a wrongful termination attorney or seek guidance in another employment matter.

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