Harassment/Discrimination

New York Increasingly Protects Those Convicted of Crimes to Enable Future Employment

April 4, 2024Employer Notice Requirements, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, New York City Employers, New York Employers

Do you conduct background checks on your employees? What do you check for and why? Do you have clearly defined criteria on what types of information gleaned from a background check will be disqualifying for a potential new hire? New York law,... Read More..

NYS Restricts Hush Money for Workplace Complaints of Harassment and Discrimination

March 28, 2024Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, New York Employers

Are our case studies too obvious? Are we now at a point where everyone understands that sexual harassment is not acceptable? Should our harassment prevention workshops be focused less on harassment and more on the subtleties of bullying behaviors?... Read More..

Legacy of an Unsung Hero: Move Beyond a Medical Diagnosis to Reach Talented Individuals

February 1, 2024Employee Relations, Federal Employment Developments, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, Leaves and Accommodations

This week our family buried an intellectually brilliant, fiercely determined, infallibly kind individual who lived a far longer, fuller life than any doctor might have predicted. Diagnosed with a progressive, increasingly degenerative medical cond... Read More..

We Need to Reframe Our Workplace Discussions of “Race”

December 19, 2023Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, Workplace Training

Whoopi Goldberg made headlines and ultimately apologized in 2022 over her strenuous assertion that the Holocaust was not about race. Over the past several months, I have heard anecdotal reports of Jewish employees, alarmed by rising rates of glob... Read More..

How to Avoid Height and Weight Discrimination

December 11, 2023Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, New York City Employers

New York City law now prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees based on their height and weight. New York City has thereby joined the state of Michigan and about a dozen other localities that similarly ban disc... Read More..

Can an Employer Fire Me for My Speech Outside Work?

November 9, 2023Federal Employment Developments, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies

Absolutely yes - depending on the circumstances. While we have grown up with the notion that free speech is sacrosanct in this country, the First Amendment actually only prohibits the government from restricting individuals’ speech. The restrictio... Read More..

How Harassment Complaints are Handled by NYS’s Division of Human Rights

November 9, 2023Harassment/Discrimination, New York Employers

Although intended to be less intimidating than a court proceeding, the process by which the New York State Division of Human Rights (the Division) handles complaints can be opaque and intimidating to many individuals, employers and other organizat... Read More..

Bias Against Jews Is a Form of Racism

November 9, 2023Federal Employment Developments, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies

What is antisemitism? Under our anti-harassment law construct, organizations are likely undertaking the wrong analysis if they simply consider it a form of religious harassment. Judaism is a religion. Employers cannot discriminate against emplo... Read More..

Workplace Investigations: Gain Clarity as to Meaning

September 7, 2023Connecticut Employers, Employee Relations, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, New Jersey Employers, New York City Employers, New York Employers, Workplace Investigations

“It’s bullying,” “I’m being harassed,” or “this is creating a hostile work environment.” As a workplace investigator these are phrases that I hear on a daily basis from complainants and their colleagues, and even sometimes from the respondents acc... Read More..