Yonkers, New York Employment Lawyers

Age Discrimination

Under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), your employer cannot discriminate against you if you are 40 or older, and the employer has a minimum of 20 employees. Under the New York State Human Rights Law, your employer or prospective employer is not supposed to discriminate against you if you are at least 18 years old, and the employer has a minimum of four employees. However, if age is a bona fide occupational qualification, an employer may take that into account under state and federal laws.

Nationality Discrimination

Nationality discrimination happens when a job applicant or employee is treated adversely based on their actual or perceived national origin, or their accent, ethnicity, or ancestry. Sometimes there is also an overlap with religious or race discrimination. For example, if a prospective employer does not hire you because you wear a hijab, and he assumes that you are from Iraq, this may be both nationality discrimination and religious discrimination.

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination is prohibited under Title VII and the New York State Human Rights Law. It happens when a prospective employer or employer makes an adverse employment decision based on your religion or creed. Our Yonkers employment attorneys can help you pursue a reasonable accommodation for your religious beliefs, as long as providing the accommodation would not cause more than a minimal burden on your employer's business.

Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination happens when an employer discriminates against an employee due to her pregnancy, pregnancy-related condition, labor, or childbirth. It is prohibited under federal and state laws. Under the New York State Human Rights Law, you are entitled to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. If your condition qualifies as a disability under the federal definition, you may also be eligible for a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Sexual orientations include being heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual. Federal law does not have explicit protections against sexual orientation discrimination, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which administers Title VII, has commented that sexual orientation discrimination is a type of sex discrimination. SONDA has an express prohibition against workplace sexual orientation discrimination, which occurs whenever an employer takes an adverse action against a job applicant or employee based on their sexual orientation.

Wrongful Termination

Employers are free to fire and hire at will. However, they cannot violate statutes or contracts when terminating an employee. You can sue for wrongful termination if you are fired because of a protected characteristic, in retaliation for engaging in a protected activity (such as complaining about discrimination), or in violation of an employment contract that required that you only be fired for just cause during a certain time period.

Hostile Work Environment

Hostile work environment is one form of harassment. It occurs under federal and state laws when an employee is harassed due to a protected characteristic, and the harassment is so severe or so pervasive that the terms of employment are altered.

Retaliation

Retaliation is prohibited under anti-discrimination laws, such as the New York State Human Rights Law and laws enforced by the EEOC. A current or prospective employer cannot terminate you or take another adverse employment action against you because you participated in a protected activity, such as complaining about harassment or discrimination.

Criminal Conviction Discrimination

The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination against job applicants and employees based on arrests and criminal convictions under certain circumstances. A prospective employer is not allowed to ask you about any arrests that did not result in a conviction, except in some narrow situations. Moreover, employers that want to deny a job due to (1) a direct relationship between the prior offense and the type of job or (2) an unreasonable risk of harm to welfare, safety, or property need to use an eight-step analysis to decide whether or not to hire a job applicant who has a prior conviction.

Consult a Dedicated Employment Lawyer in Yonkers or Surrounding Areas

At Phillips & Associates, our experienced attorneys counsel and represent people who have faced misconduct in the workplace in Yonkers.

To start discussing your case, contact us at (866) 229-9441 or through our online form for a free case evaluation.