Brooklyn Employment Lawyers

Workplace Rights Attorneys Serving Brooklyn Employees

You have the right to take action if your employer fails to pay you minimum wage, fails to pay you overtime, sexually harasses you, discriminates against you due to a protected trait, or engages in other illegal conduct. At Phillips & Associates, our Brooklyn employment lawyers understand the anxiety that you may feel about standing up for yourself against your employer. As experienced employment attorneys, we can handle claims arising out of sexual harassment and all forms of employment discrimination.

Phillips & Associates also is ready to serve employees who need representation in disputes related to wage and hour violations, severance agreements, retaliation, wrongful termination, and more.

Employment Litigation in New York

Federal, state, and local laws prohibit discrimination in the workplace. There are many protected traits covered by these laws, including but not limited to race, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender. A common form of gender discrimination is sexual harassment, which may result in a hostile work environment. An employee in a New York workplace may bring a sexual harassment claim based on a hostile work environment if he or she has been adversely affected by a pattern of offensive actions or comments of a sexual nature on the job, which would make a reasonable person uncomfortable under similar circumstances. Quid pro quo harassment happens when a CEO, a supervisor, or another person in a position of authority conditions a promotion, raise, or other benefit on receiving sexual favors from an employee. It may also consist of threatening an employee that he or she will suffer adverse job-related consequences if he or she does not provide the sexual favors demanded.

Pregnancy discrimination, which is also a form of gender discrimination, is all too pervasive because stereotypes surrounding working women persist in many workplaces. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act not only protects pregnant employees from adverse treatment based on their pregnancy or related conditions but also requires their employers to offer them reasonable accommodations in many situations. This federal law applies only to businesses of a certain size, but state laws provide similar rights to pregnant women in smaller businesses.

Your employer also is prohibited from retaliating against you for engaging in protected activities. These include making a complaint to HR about discrimination, filing a charge with an agency such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or filing a private lawsuit for damages. In some instances, retaliation rises to the level of wrongful termination, but less drastic actions also may form the basis of a claim, including withholding of bonuses, demotions, pay cuts, inferior assignments, or simple harassment. You may recover compensation for retaliation even if the court finds that there was no discrimination, as long as you had a good-faith belief that you were a victim of discrimination.

Discuss Your Employment Dispute With a Brooklyn Lawyer

If you have been affected by mistreatment on the job, you should consult a Brooklyn employment attorney about your options as soon as possible. At Phillips & Associates, we understand the stress that you may be facing and can vigorously advocate on your behalf. Call (866) 229-9441 or use our online form to set up a free consultation with a wrongful termination attorney or seek representation in another employment dispute.