WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

Is bullying illegal? The short answer is no. However, bullying in the workplace can constitute as unlawful harassment if it leads to a hostile work environment and/or if it is on the basis of a protected category, such as sex, race, religion, nationality. 

What Is Bullying and How Is It Different From Harassment?

Bullying is defined as a pattern of an undesired and aggressive behavior “that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” Bullying can take verbal, social, and physical forms. According to

Emilio’s Pizzeria & Ristorante, located in Long Island, New York, is facing criticism after the owner reportedly insulted and physically attacked a gay employee. Michael Abenante had worked at Emilio’s as a waiter since 2017. Abenante, who identifies as gay, wore the wrong shoes to work in November 2019. In response to this mistake, the restaurant owner, Emilio Branchinelli, allegedly yelled “F—king f—got, I’ll murder you!” Then, Branchinelli allegedly kicked Abenante in the back and punched him in the face.

         Amira Donahue, 16 years old, works as a hostess at Olive Garden in Evansville, Indiana. Amira was serving a table during a normal Saturday night dinner rush when something horrible happened. Her table asked Amira for hot water, and immediately after, the customers bursted into a racist tirade. The table publicly expressed that they preferred a white server over Amira, who is African American. The manager complied with the customers’ request and reassigned a new white server to the

Too often, large employers violate the workplace rights of flat rate contract drivers. The good news is that these drivers are winning lawsuits around the country to get back their rightfully earned wages. If you are a flat rate contract driver, keep reading to learn how you can protect your rights now so that you may have a more successful lawsuit in the future. 

1. Keep Your Receipts

Keep all of your receipts for any work-related expenses. Flat rate contract drivers often

Great Hearts Western Hills, a public charter school in San Antonio, Texas, faced intense criticism after firing an employee for wearing a Black Lives Matter face mask to work. According to a CNN article, Lillian White, an art teacher at the school, lost her job for wearing a face mask that displayed “Silence is Violence” and “Black Lives Matter” messages across the front.  Considering the current social movement surrounding racial issues in the country, White explained that she wanted to show

Anthony Jefferson was shopping at On the Road Automotive Group, a car dealership in the Bronx, to buy his wife a car for her birthday when something horrific happened. Three armed suspects fired several shots into the car dealership. Jefferson quickly shielded his children, aged six, five, and two, from the bullets with his body. While protecting his children, Jefferson was shot three times in the legs. None of Jefferson’s children were injured due to his heroism. The NYPD is

In an article published in The Washington Post, Apple, a multinational technology company, was accused of wage and labor violations in Chinese factories. A non-profit advocacy group named China Labor Watch accused Apple of the labor violations, “including withholding bonus payments, rolling back safety training and employing more temporary workers than China’s laws allow.” According to the article, these reports were found after investigators worked undercover at the biggest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China. Unfortunately, this instance is not the first

During times of economic recession, both unemployment and wage theft rates rise. Wage theft occurs when an employer refuses to compensate an employee the rightful amount for time worked. Examples of wage theft are paying someone less than minimum wage, or promising an amount of money and paying only half of that amount. Statistically speaking, industries such as construction, retail, food service, and domestic work have the highest amount of wage theft cases.

As the pandemic progresses, less money flows into

The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among many others at the hands of police, have motivated a series of social change. More people have become aware of injustices and inequalities that exist within the country and have become more conscious, vocal, and active agents of change. Conversations that would normally be seen as “uncomfortable” are now encouraged in the workplace, in schools, and even in professional sports. This social change has prompted individuals to become more involved in

Arbitration is a private form of dispute resolution where conflicting parties choose a third party to resolve a dispute. Rather than filing a lawsuit in court, parties in arbitration privately resolve a conflict behind closed doors. Employers first created this process to lower legal costs and hold disputes in a venue that might be more sympathetic to them. For example, some employers think that arbitrators, who may be retired judges or business people, are more impartial than typical jurors and