New York Caregiver and Family Responsibilities Discrimination Lawyers

Employment Lawyers for Workers Penalized for Caring for a Child or Family Member

By William K. Phillips, Founder and Managing Partner, Phillips & Associates, Attorneys at Law, PLLC

Last reviewed: September 2026

Phillips & Associates, PLLC represents employees and job applicants who were passed over, demoted, underpaid, denied leave, or pushed out because they care for a child, parent, spouse, or another family member. Employers sometimes assume that workers with caregiving responsibilities will be less committed, less reliable, or unavailable for demanding assignments. Employment decisions based on those stereotypes may violate the New York City Human Rights Law, the New York State Human Rights Law, or federal protections involving sex discrimination, disability association, and family leave.

What Is Caregiver or Family Responsibility Discrimination?

Caregiver discrimination, sometimes called family responsibility discrimination, is unfavorable workplace treatment based on an employee’s or applicant’s responsibility for caring for another person. It may involve stereotypes that a parent or other caregiver will be distracted, unreliable, unavailable, or less committed to the job.

Whether that treatment violates the law depends on where the person works, who receives the care, and why the employer acted. New York City expressly protects qualifying caregivers. New York State provides narrower protection based on familial status. Federal law may apply when the treatment involves sex stereotypes, association with a person who has a disability, or the exercise of protected family-leave rights.

Caregiving can involve many family situations, although not every situation is covered by every law:

• A parent raising young children
• An adult child caring for an aging parent
• Someone looking after a spouse, sibling, or relative with a disability or serious illness

It can surface as a refusal to hire, a denied promotion, unequal pay, a demotion, termination, or harassment. Sometimes it's blunt. A manager who says "women with kids aren't as committed here," or "I'd never promote someone whose spouse is bedridden," has handed you direct evidence of the bias.

Which Laws Protect You From Caregiver Discrimination?

Your strongest protection in New York City comes from local law.

• New York City: The New York City Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination based on actual or perceived caregiver status. A caregiver is someone who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child or for a qualifying care recipient. A care recipient generally must have a disability, be a covered relative or live in the caregiver’s household, and rely on the caregiver for medical care or the needs of daily living. The protection applies to covered employees and job applicants. The law generally applies to employers with four or more employees.
• New York State: The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits employment discrimination based on familial status.This protection generally covers a person who is pregnant, has a child under 18, or is in the process of securing legal custody of a child under 18. It is narrower than New York City’s caregiver-status protection and does not create a general statewide protected class for everyone caring for an elderly parent, spouse, sibling, or other adult.
• Federal law: Federal law does not designate caregiver status as a protected class by itself. Title VII may apply when caregiver treatment is based on sex stereotypes, such as assuming that mothers will be less committed than fathers. The Americans with Disabilities Act may prohibit discrimination because an employee or applicant is associated with a person who has a disability, but that association provision does not itself require the employer to provide a reasonable accommodation. The Family and Medical Leave Act may provide eligible employees with job-protected leave to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
• New York Paid Family Leave: Eligible employees may have job-protected paid leave to bond with a new child, care for a qualifying family member with a serious health condition, or address certain needs arising from military deployment. An employer generally may not discriminate or retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking protected leave. Learn more about New York Paid Family Leave and the state’s job-protection and retaliation rules.

The Department of Labor confirms the FMLA’s covered relationships and eligibility-based protection. U.S. Department of Labor FMLA guidance.

One important limit is that caregiver status alone does not ordinarily require a New York City employer to provide a flexible or reduced schedule. The law prohibits discrimination because someone is a caregiver, but it does not create a general caregiver-accommodation requirement. Separate rights may arise under the FMLA, New York Paid Family Leave, pregnancy-accommodation laws, disability laws applicable to the employee’s own disability, an employment policy, or a collective bargaining agreement.

Caregiver Discrimination During the Interview or Hiring Process

Bias often starts before you're hired. Some employers improperly screen applicants based on assumptions about whether family obligations will affect their availability or commitment.

It can look like:

• Interview or application questions about whether you have children, are pregnant, or plan to be
• Questions about your childcare arrangements or a relative's health
• An offer that cools once an employer learns about your family situation
• A pattern of hiring candidates without visible family obligations for roles you were qualified for

Applicants are protected, not just current employees. Under the city's Human Rights Law, an employer can't refuse to hire you because you are, or appear to be, a caregiver. If a promising process stalled right after your family came up, that timing can matter.

What Does Caregiver Discrimination Look Like on the Job?

Once you're hired, the bias tends to show up as a shift in how you're treated after your caregiving becomes known.

• A strong track record that stalls after you have a child or take on eldercare
• Being routed away from demanding assignments or promotions others still get
• Different scheduling, pay, or performance standards than coworkers without caregiving duties
• Comments about your availability, your commitment, or your family
• Pressure to resign, or a sudden write-up, after you request time to handle a family need

An employer does not have to admit that it acted because you are a parent or caregiver. The pattern, timing, comments, employer explanations, and treatment of other employees may help establish the reason for the decision.

How Do You Prove Caregiver Discrimination?

Employers rarely admit the real reason. A claim usually comes together from context rather than a confession. What tends to matter:

• Comments tying your treatment to your family, your children, or your caregiving, even offhand ones
• The timing of a change in treatment that tracks a pregnancy, a new child, or a family member's illness
• How coworkers without caregiving obligations were treated in the same situations
• An employer's stated reason shifting over time or not matching your record
• Notes, emails, or messages you keep with dates and specifics

A stereotype spoken out loud is powerful evidence, but most cases are built from timing and comparison.

Preserve only information you lawfully possess. Do not remove confidential, privileged, proprietary, patient, customer, or legally restricted information, and do not access systems or records you are not authorized to use.

Can an Employer Retaliate Because You Requested Leave or Reported Caregiver Discrimination?

Retaliation may occur when an employer punishes an employee for requesting protected leave, opposing caregiver discrimination, or raising a related sex, pregnancy, or disability-association concern. It may include termination, demotion, reduced hours, undesirable assignments, sudden discipline, exclusion from opportunities, or increased scrutiny.

The applicable protection depends on what the employee requested or opposed and which law covers the situation. Timing can support a retaliation claim, but timing alone does not automatically prove retaliation.

Representative Caregiver and Family Responsibility Results

Phillips & Associates represents employees in caregiver, familial-status, family-leave, pregnancy, and related retaliation cases. These claims often overlap, but the legal protections are not identical and depend on the employee’s location, caregiving relationship, leave rights, and the reason for the employer’s decision.

$590,000 Settlement for an Executive Terminated After Her Infant Required Additional Care

Phillips & Associates represented an executive at a multinational fashion company whose treatment allegedly changed after she took maternity leave. Her infant was born with medical issues requiring additional care. She was later terminated, with the company citing cost savings as its reason. The matter resolved for $590,000 before a lawsuit was filed.

$650,000 Settlement Involving Caregiver, Familial-Status, and Pregnancy Discrimination Claims

Phillips & Associates represented an administrative assistant at a bank whose claims included caregiver and familial-status discrimination, pregnancy and gender discrimination, FMLA retaliation, and constructive discharge. She alleged that an executive with authority over her promotion opportunities, leave, and working conditions treated her unlawfully in connection with her pregnancy and caregiving responsibilities. The matter resolved for $650,000.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every matter depends on its facts, evidence, applicable law, damages, defenses, and litigation risks. Read more about our employment case results.

How We Help Working Caregivers

• Substantial resources with partner-led representation. Phillips & Associates represents employees and job applicants only. The firm combines the resources and litigation capacity of a substantial plaintiff-side employment practice with partner-led, boutique-style representation.
• A dedicated legal team for every accepted matter. The firm’s 38 full-time, in-house attorneys are organized into 18 dedicated litigation teams. Every accepted matter is assigned to a team led by a partner or senior litigator. Many of the firm’s partners have worked together for more than a decade handling discrimination, retaliation, family-leave, and other career-impacting employment cases.
• Experience before the courts that decide employment cases. Phillips & Associates’ attorneys have appeared before more than 110 United States District Judges and more than 70 United States Magistrate Judges. That experience matters when a caregiver case proceeds through discovery, depositions, motion practice, trial, or appeal.
• Experience against major employers and their defense firms. Phillips & Associates has litigated against more than 550 management-side defense firms, including Jackson Lewis, Littler Mendelson, Ogletree Deakins, Seyfarth Shaw, Morgan Lewis, and Proskauer Rose. The firm’s litigation reputation among employers, defense lawyers, and insurance companies can create leverage during negotiations, including when a private and confidential resolution may be possible before a lawsuit is filed.
• Experience identifying overlapping claims. Caregiver cases may also involve sex discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, disability-association discrimination, family and medical leave, retaliation, or wrongful termination. The firm evaluates the complete factual and legal picture rather than assuming that every caregiver claim arises under the same law.
• Recognized in plaintiff-side employment law. Phillips & Associates is ranked by Chambers USA 2026 for Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs in New York. Attorneys at the firm have also been recognized by Best Lawyers, Lawdragon, and Super Lawyers.
• Free and confidential consultations. No attorneys’ fees are owed unless the firm obtains a recovery.

If you believe you were treated worse at work because you care for a family member, or a job opportunity disappeared after an employer learned about your family responsibilities, call (866) 229-9441 or contact us online to speak with a lawyer.

What Can You Recover?

Available remedies depend on the law that applies and the harm caused. They may include back pay and lost benefits, front pay, reinstatement or instatement into a position, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and attorneys’ fees and costs where authorized. Punitive damages may be available under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the New York City Human Rights Law when the governing standard is satisfied. Punitive damages are not available under the New York State Human Rights Law.

Title VII and the ADA apply statutory caps to combined compensatory and punitive damages based on employer size. The New York City Human Rights Law does not apply those federal caps. Leave laws may provide different remedies.

How Long Do You Have to File?

Deadlines differ depending on the legal claim, employer, forum, and whether the employee is filing with an administrative agency or bringing a lawsuit in court.

• New York State court: Claims under the New York State Human Rights Law generally must be brought within three years of the alleged discriminatory act. 
• Federal discrimination claims: An employee generally has 300 days in New York to file an EEOC charge for a Title VII or ADA claim. Completing the EEOC process is ordinarily a prerequisite to bringing those claims in court. 
• Family-leave and other claims: The FMLA, New York Paid Family Leave, local laws, contractual provisions, union procedures, and administrative filings may have different or shorter deadlines. 

Filing with an administrative agency may affect whether and where the same claims can later be pursued. Employees should obtain advice promptly because the applicable deadline depends on the specific facts and claims.

FAQ

Does the Law Protect Me If I Care for an Elderly Parent, Not a Child?

Potentially. Under the New York City Human Rights Law, caring for a parent may qualify when the parent has a disability, relies on you for medical care or the needs of daily living, and you provide direct and ongoing care. Age alone does not necessarily make a parent a qualifying care recipient.

Can an Employer Ask Whether I Have Children During an Interview?

The question itself isn't automatically illegal, but using your answer against you is. If you were asked about kids, childcare, or family plans and then passed over, that line of questioning can become evidence of caregiver discrimination.

Does the City's Caregiver Law Require My Employer to Give Me a Flexible Schedule?

Not on its own. The law prohibits an employer from treating you worse because you are a caregiver, but it does not create a general right to a reduced or flexible schedule. Separate rights may arise under the FMLA, New York Paid Family Leave, pregnancy-accommodation laws, disability laws applicable to your own medical condition, an employer policy, or a collective bargaining agreement. The ADA’s association provision generally does not require an employer to change your schedule so you can care for another person with a disability.

Talk to a Lawyer About Caregiver Discrimination

If you were penalized at work because you care for your family, you may have a claim, and reaching out does not commit you to filing anything. Phillips & Associates, PLLC represents employees and job applicants only. Caregiver issues often overlap with pregnancy discrimination, paternity discrimination, FMLA violations, and New York Paid Family Leave.

Call (866) 229-9441 or contact us online for a FREE, confidential consultation.