New York Sexual Orientation Harassment Lawyers

Workplace Harassment and Hostile Work Environment Claims Based on Actual or Perceived Sexual Orientation

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

Last reviewed: September 2026

Sexual orientation harassment at work can include slurs, jokes, intrusive questions about your partner, exclusion from meetings, unequal treatment, or other hostile conduct because of your actual or perceived sexual orientation. An employer may dismiss this behavior as workplace banter or claim that it is not serious. Under New York law, however, workplace harassment does not have to be severe or pervasive to be unlawful. It must rise above a petty slight or trivial inconvenience.

What Is Sexual Orientation Harassment?

Sexual orientation harassment is unwelcome workplace conduct directed at an employee because of the employee’s actual or perceived sexual orientation. The conduct does not have to be sexual. It may involve hostility, humiliation, exclusion, intimidation, or unequal treatment based on the employee’s sexual orientation.

Call (866) 229-9441 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. We represent employees only, and no attorneys’ fees are owed unless the firm obtains a recovery.

What Counts as Sexual Orientation Harassment at Work?

Harassment because of sexual orientation can take many forms:

• Slurs, derogatory jokes, or mocking comments about sexual orientation. 
• Comments about an employee’s partner or same-sex relationship. 
• Remarks about an employee’s appearance, voice, mannerisms, or gender presentation based on stereotypes about sexual orientation. 
• Offensive memes, images, emails, text messages, or workplace chat messages. 
• Outing an employee or threatening to disclose the employee’s sexual orientation. 
• Exclusion from meetings, assignments, opportunities, or workplace events after an employee comes out or is outed. 
• Unequal discipline, undesirable assignments, schedule changes, or lost opportunities connected to sexual orientation. 
• Unwanted touching, intimidation, threats, stalking, or physical aggression. 
• Repeated or intrusive questions about an employee’s sex life, relationships, or sexual orientation. 
• Harassment by a customer or client that the employer knows or should know about and fails to address appropriately. 

Several points follow from how these claims are litigated. The conduct does not have to be sexual. It does not have to come from a supervisor. The harasser may be a supervisor, owner, executive, coworker, subordinate, client, customer, vendor, or another person encountered through work. The conduct may occur in person, remotely, through electronic communications, at work-related events, during business travel, or away from the physical workplace.

The harasser’s own sexual orientation does not determine whether the conduct is unlawful. A gay employee, for example, can be harassed because of sexual orientation by a gay coworker. What matters is whether the conduct was directed at the employee because of the employee’s actual or perceived sexual orientation.

New York law also protects employees from harassment based on perceived sexual orientation. An employee who was not out at work, or whose employer incorrectly assumed the employee’s sexual orientation, may still be protected if that perception motivated the conduct. Learn more about sexual orientation and LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination and claims involving employees who were fired because of their sexual orientation.

You No Longer Have to Prove Severe or Pervasive Harassment in New York

For years, harassment claims rose or fell on whether the conduct was severe or pervasive. That is still the federal standard. New York changed course in 2019, and the difference is often decisive.

Federal law

Title VII generally continues to apply the severe or pervasive hostile work environment standard, and it generally covers employers with 15 or more employees. In Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court held that Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination because of sex includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and transgender status, so orientation-based harassment is federally actionable, subject to that standard.

New York State law

New York amended the New York State Human Rights Law in 2019. For claims governed by the amended standard, an employee does not have to prove that harassment was severe or pervasive. The question is whether the employee was subjected to inferior terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of a protected characteristic. Conduct that amounts to no more than a petty slight or trivial inconvenience is not actionable. Conduct that rises above that line can be. The NYSHRL generally applies to employers throughout New York regardless of size, and sexual orientation was added as a protected class through the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act.

New York City law

Under the New York City Human Rights Law, the question is generally whether the employee was treated less well, at least in part, because of actual or perceived sexual orientation. A comparator is not necessarily required. The NYCHRL generally covers employers with four or more employees, subject to separate coverage rules for domestic workers.

Zimmer is what that difference looks like in practice. Two comments across a single shift may not satisfy the federal severe-or-pervasive standard. Under the New York City standard, however, the court held that these remarks could be more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences.

Sexual Orientation Harassment Results and Decisions

$100,000 Jury Verdict Upheld, With UPS Ordered to Pay More Than $144,000 in Attorneys’ Fees and Costs

Phillips & Associates secured a $100,000 jury verdict for an employee who experienced sexual orientation harassment and retaliation at UPS. The evidence showed that her supervisor repeatedly told her that being a lesbian was wrong and needed to change. She complained, but UPS failed to protect her from the harassment.

In Roberts v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 115 F. Supp. 3d 344 (E.D.N.Y. 2015), the jury found in the employee’s favor under the New York City Human Rights Law. After the verdict, UPS asked the court to set it aside, dismiss the case, order a new trial, or reduce the damages. The court rejected those requests and upheld the compensatory and punitive damages awards.

Judge Weinstein also ordered UPS to pay $139,265 in attorneys’ fees and $4,952.33 in litigation costs. Together with the $100,000 damages verdict, the orders required UPS to pay a total of $244,217.33. The attorneys’ fees and costs were awarded separately from the damages recovered by the employee. Read the court’s order. The decision shows why an employee’s complaints, the employer’s knowledge, and what the employer did in response can become critical evidence in a sexual orientation harassment case. It also confirms that the New York City Human Rights Law must be interpreted independently from federal law and broadly in favor of protecting people from discrimination. Roberts has since been cited by other courts deciding sexual orientation discrimination cases, including the court in Zimmer.

Two Remarks Held to Be More Than Petty Slights: Zimmer v. Warner Bros. Pictures

Phillips & Associates represented the plaintiff in Zimmer v. Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op 51889(U) (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County Dec. 23, 2016) (Index No. 103732/2012), before the Hon. Lucy Billings. The employee was an openly gay on-set costume designer. A first assistant director refused a coat the employee handed him, saying it was “too gay.” When a director standing nearby told him that he could not say that, he responded, “But look at it.” Those were the only two remarks at issue. The employer moved for summary judgment, arguing that two isolated comments could not support a claim.

The court denied summary judgment on the sexual orientation discrimination and hostile work environment claims. It held that the two remarks could reasonably be considered more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences and that whether the employee was treated less well because of his sexual orientation presented a question for the trier of fact. The court also denied summary judgment on the employer’s vicarious-liability defense, citing its delayed response and lack of meaningful corrective measures. Other claims, including constructive discharge and retaliation, were dismissed.

The decision demonstrates that isolated remarks are not automatically excluded under the New York City Human Rights Law. Petty slights and trivial inconveniences operate as an affirmative defense, meaning the employer bears the burden of establishing that the challenged conduct falls below the law’s threshold.

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 and employment-law precedents and decisions.

What You Get When You Work With Us

Phillips & Associates, PLLC combines the resources of a substantial plaintiff-side employment practice with partner-led, boutique-style representation and a dedicated legal team for every accepted matter.

For clients, that means:

• We represent employees only. The firm does not represent employers, corporations, or management in employment matters.
• The firm has 38 full-time, in-house attorneys organized into 18 dedicated litigation teams, with more than 200 years of combined employment law experience. 
• Every accepted matter is assigned to a dedicated legal team led by a partner or senior litigator and staffed with two attorneys and a paralegal. The team develops the facts, witnesses, documents, damages, record of the employer’s response, and litigation strategy. 
• This team structure provides continuity through investigation, pre-suit negotiation, agency proceedings, discovery, depositions, motion practice, trial, and appeal when necessary. 
• The firm has the financial and professional resources to conduct appropriate discovery, retain experts, take depositions, litigate motions, and continue when an employer refuses to resolve a claim fairly. 
• Consultations are free and confidential. No attorneys’ fees are owed unless the firm obtains a recovery. 

We represent employees in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, as well as throughout Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties.

Who Is Responsible When You Are Harassed at Work?

Employer responsibility is not automatic, and it is not the same under every statute. It depends on which law applies, the harasser’s position and authority, whether the harasser exercised managerial or supervisory responsibility, whether the employer knew or should have known about the conduct, how the employer responded, and whether the harassment came from a coworker, client, customer, vendor, or another nonsupervisory person.

Under the New York City Human Rights Law, an employer may be held strictly liable for discriminatory conduct by an employee who exercised managerial or supervisory responsibility. When harassment comes from a coworker, customer, client, or other nonsupervisory person, notice and the adequacy of the employer’s response may become particularly important.

Individuals may also face personal liability under certain New York State and New York City Human Rights Law provisions. That is not automatic either, and whether a particular manager or coworker can be held individually liable depends on the provision invoked and on what that person did.

Reporting Harassment

An internal complaint can put the employer on notice and create evidence of how the company responded. Depending on the applicable law and the harasser’s authority, notice and the employer’s response may also affect the liability analysis.

How the complaint is made matters more than most people expect.

• The report should clearly connect the conduct to actual or perceived sexual orientation or another protected characteristic.
• A general complaint about unfairness or a personality conflict may not communicate a discrimination complaint at all.
• Written reporting helps create a record.
• The wording, the recipient, the timing, and the supporting evidence can all matter later.

When it is practical, it is worth consulting an employee-side employment attorney before submitting an internal complaint. No one should stay in an unsafe situation while waiting for advice. The law prohibits retaliation for protected complaints, but retaliation still happens, which is why the record you create at this stage matters. 

Learn more about whether you should speak with an employment lawyer before reporting harassment to HR

Preserving Evidence

• Create a private, dated chronology recording what happened, when, who was involved, and who witnessed it.
• Preserve lawfully possessed emails, texts, workplace messages, reviews, complaints, schedules, and disciplinary records.
• Preserve copies of your complaints and the employer’s responses.
• Record whether the conduct stopped, continued, or worsened after you reported it.
• Preserve evidence of retaliation.
• Keep job-search records if harassment or retaliation costs you your job.
• Do not alter, delete, or fabricate anything.
• Avoid public social media posts about the dispute before getting advice.

One limit matters a great deal. 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. Taking material you are not entitled to take creates separate problems and can damage an otherwise strong claim.

Retaliation for Reporting Sexual Orientation Harassment

Retaliation is a separate claim, and it often survives even where the harassment claim is contested. It can include termination, demotion, reduced hours or compensation, schedule changes, lost assignments or opportunities, exclusion from meetings, sudden discipline, negative reviews inconsistent with your prior record, threats, isolation, increased scrutiny, or pressure to resign.

You generally do not have to prove that the underlying harassment ultimately occurred. What ordinarily must be shown is that you held a good-faith, reasonable belief that the conduct you opposed was unlawful, and that the employer understood from your words or the context that your complaint concerned discrimination based on sexual orientation or another protected characteristic. Timing can be evidence of retaliation, but timing alone does not automatically prove the claim. Learn more about retaliation for reporting workplace discrimination or harassment

What If the Harassment Includes Threats or Violence?

Workplace harassment can include threats, stalking, property damage, unwanted physical contact, or assault. That conduct may raise criminal law issues in addition to an employment claim.

If you are in immediate danger, contact law enforcement or emergency services. A criminal investigation is separate from a civil employment case, and reporting potentially criminal conduct does not necessarily prevent you from pursuing workplace discrimination, harassment, or retaliation claims. Phillips & Associates handles the employment law side of these matters, not the criminal prosecution.

What Can You Recover?

Potential remedies depend on which law applies and what the evidence establishes. They may include:

• Back pay and lost benefits.
• Front pay when returning to the workplace is not realistic.
• Reinstatement in appropriate cases, although reinstatement is often impractical.
• Compensatory damages, including emotional distress damages where supported.
• Punitive damages under Title VII or the New York City Human Rights Law when the applicable standard is met.
• Attorneys’ fees and costs where authorized.
• Other statutory or equitable relief.

Title VII applies 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, although any award remains subject to review by the court. Do not assume that every category of damages is available under every statute that might apply to your case.

How Long Do You Have to File an Employment Law Case?

Deadlines differ depending on whether an employee is filing an administrative complaint with an agency or bringing a lawsuit in court.

• New York State court: Claims brought under the New York State Human Rights Law generally must be filed within three years of the alleged discriminatory act. 
• Federal claims: An employee generally has 300 days in New York to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Completing the EEOC administrative process is ordinarily a prerequisite to bringing a Title VII claim in court. 
• Other administrative filings: Different and sometimes shorter deadlines may apply depending on the agency, employer, and type of claim.

Harassment claims sometimes involve a continuing violation analysis, where earlier conduct may remain part of the case if it is connected to conduct within the limitations period. Do not assume that older incidents will automatically stay actionable.

Filing with the New York State Division of Human Rights, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, or another agency can affect whether and where the same claims may later be pursued. Contractual requirements, union procedures, government-employer rules, notice provisions, and the particular claims involved may also create different or shorter deadlines.

 Employees should obtain legal advice promptly because the applicable deadline depends on the specific facts, claims, and forum.

Why Employees Choose Phillips & Associates

Phillips & Associates’ Phillips & Associates has handled more than 9,500 employment matters, litigated approximately 2,000 employment cases, and recovered more than $360 million for employees. The firm’s attorneys have appeared before more than 110 United States District Judges and more than 70 United States Magistrate Judges.

That experience matters long before a case reaches trial. Phillips & Associates’ litigation reputation among employers, defense law firms, and insurance companies can create leverage during negotiations. In appropriate cases, that leverage may help resolve a matter privately and confidentially before a lawsuit is filed. When an employer refuses to resolve a claim fairly, the firm has the legal teams, courtroom experience, and financial resources to continue through discovery, depositions, motion practice, trial, and appeal when necessary.

Phillips & Associates is ranked by Chambers USA 2026 in Band 3 for Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs in New York and is recognized in Best Law Firms 2026. Attorneys at the firm have also been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Lawdragon, including all ten partners being named to the 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights and Plaintiff Employment Lawyers.

Learn more about Phillips & Associates’ trial readiness and courtroom experience, dedicated employment litigation teams, and employment attorneys.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a single incident support a sexual orientation harassment claim?

Yes it can. Under the amended New York State Human Rights Law, harassment does not have to be severe or pervasive. A single incident can support a claim if it rises above a petty slight or trivial inconvenience, and a pattern of smaller incidents can also be enough even if no single one would stand out alone. There is no separate requirement that the incident be serious in some general sense. The standard is the petty slight and trivial inconvenience line.

Does it matter if the person harassing me is also gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer?

No. Harassment is unlawful when it targets you because of sexual orientation, regardless of the harasser’s own orientation.

Does the harassment have to happen in the office?

No. Conduct at a client dinner, a holiday party, an off-site retreat, during business travel, or in work texts, emails, and chat messages can support a claim just as much as something said at your desk.

Am I protected if the employer or harasser is wrong about my sexual orientation?

Yes. The law covers harassment based on perceived sexual orientation. You are protected whether or not the assumption about you is accurate.

Can a customer or client create a hostile work environment?

Yes. Harassment from a customer, client, or vendor can support a claim. Where the harasser is not a supervisor, whether the employer knew or should have known, and what it did in response, generally become central to the analysis.

Can my employer retaliate because I complained?

Retaliation for a protected complaint is unlawful, and retaliation is a separate claim from the harassment itself. That said, the law prohibiting retaliation does not prevent it from happening. If your treatment changed after you complained, that change is part of your case.

Can I bring a claim if I am classified as an independent contractor?

Possibly. Title VII generally protects employees rather than true independent contractors. New York State and New York City law may extend discrimination protections to independent contractors and freelancers. An employer’s label does not necessarily control the legal classification, and coverage requires a fact-specific analysis.

About the Author

William K. Phillips is the Founder and Managing Partner of Phillips & Associates, Attorneys at Law, PLLC. He has been admitted to the New York bar since 1996 and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He founded the firm in November 2011 and has built it into a practice that represents employees only.

He co-founded the National Plaintiffs’ Summit on Sexual Harassment and Employment Discrimination with Vanessa Keys, the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. He is a contributor to the Forbes Business Council, and his commentary on workplace law has appeared in Forbes, USA Today, and Law360.

Talk to a Lawyer About Sexual Orientation Harassment

Phillips & Associates, PLLC represents employees only. We evaluate sexual orientation harassment, hostile work environment, discrimination, constructive discharge, and retaliation claims, and we can help you decide whether an internal complaint, an agency charge, or a lawsuit is the right next step. Reaching out does not commit you to any of them, and the firm reviews each matter on its facts before deciding whether it can take the case.

Consultations are free and confidential. No attorneys’ fees are owed unless the firm obtains a recovery.

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

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every matter depends on its facts, evidence, applicable law, damages, defenses, and litigation risks. Attorney Advertising.