Dane Pierre
About
Dane Pierre is a legal intern with the law firm of Phillips & Associates. Mr. Pierre works closely with attorneys to fight for workers who have faced adverse treatment due to a protected aspect of their identity or life history. If you were harmed by discrimination or harassment, you should consult Dane Pierre and the New York City employment discrimination lawyers of the law firm Phillips & Associates.
Mr. Pierre graduated from St. John’s University in Jamaica, NY with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in May 2014. He made the Dean’s List in 2012. He participated in Intramural Basketball and the Speech Pathology Club. He is a J.D. candidate at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip and is set to graduate in May 2021. While there, Mr. Pierre served as President of the Black Law Students Association. In 2019, he was a Public Interest Law Fellow.
Mr. Pierre’s personal interests are football, basketball, and health & fitness. He volunteers as a Student Liaison at Touro Law Center for the Metropolitan Black Bar Association. He was also a mentor for the Viscardi Center Mentoring Initiative.
Employment Discrimination and Harassment Lawyers
Dane Pierre works with our New York City trial attorneys on employment discrimination and harassment lawsuits filed on behalf of workers who have been harmed by their employers. Not every instance of unfairness in a workplace counts as discrimination. Rather, discrimination occurs when an employer enacts an adverse employment decision against an employee. These decisions can include firing, disparate pay, failure to promote, demotion, and harassment.
In the context of disability discrimination, an employer’s failure to provide a reasonable accommodation when there is no undue hardship is actionable discrimination. For instance, if you were denied a reasonable accommodation for your chronic fatigue syndrome in the form of an altered work schedule, the court would look at whether your employer could have provided this accommodation.
Federal Laws
A wide range of federal laws governs workplace discrimination. These include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which means you’ll need to file a charge with the EEOC before bringing a lawsuit against your employer. There are strict time limits within which to do this.
In most cases, state and local laws protect workers better. Federal laws only apply to employers that are midsize or large. However, every situation is different. It’s critical to retain an attorney to represent you.
State and Local Laws
The New York State Human Rights Law protects a range of characteristics. It was recently amended to provide some of the broader protections given by the New York City Human Rights Law. Among other changes, the state law now allows for punitive damages and lowered the standard for actionable harassment.
Protected characteristics under the city law include:
- Age
- Color
- Gender
- Gender Identity
- Disability
- Marital Status
- Immigration or Citizenship Status
- Marital Status and Partnership Status
- National origin
- Pregnancy/ Lactation
- Religion
- Sexual Orientation
- Veteran Status
- Arrest or Conviction Record
- Caregiver Status
- Credit History
- Pre-employment Marijuana Testing
- Unemployment Status
- Sexual and Reproductive Health Decisions
- Salary History
- Domestic Violence Victim Status
For example, if you were denied a prestigious customer-facing promotion because your employer was worried that as a gay Muslim person, you would project the wrong image, you may have a claim for religious and sexual orientation discrimination.
Retain an Experienced New York City Discrimination and Harassment Lawyer
You’ve worked hard to be able to do your job. You may have spent years building up experience and credibility in your industry. When an employer decides to fire you or demote you because of a factor that’s no longer under your control, your career may be derailed. You may lose your ability to earn an income. You may be blackballed. It is crucial to seek counsel from a knowledgeable New York City employment discrimination attorney. Dane Pierre and others on our legal teams at Phillips & Associates may be able to fight for your right to recover damages from a discriminatory employer. We represent workers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx, Nassau County, or Suffolk County. Call us at (866) 229-9441 or complete our online form.