WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

The fastest-growing demographic of the United States workforce is employees age 65 and older. There are many reasons why older Americans are choosing to work longer rather than retire. Average lifespans are rising, pensions are disappearing, and maximizing social security payouts can require more years of employment. Despite this growing demographic, companies are not changing their hiring priorities and too often unlawfully discriminating against older workers.

Hiring Age Discrimination

Companies tend to be more focused on recruiting and retaining millennial workers

The U.S. House just passed a bill entitled “The Paycheck Fairness Act,” voting 242-187. Those who voted for the bill seek to promote gender pay equality. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut first introduced the bill all the way back in 1997. This is the 11th time DeLauro has brought up this bill. When asked about the bill, DeLauro said: “Very simple concept: Men and women in the same job deserve the same pay . . . It used to be

Home health care workers are arguing to be paid for every hour they spend caring for elderly and disabled people. Last week, a New York court ruled against their wishes, legally allowing them to be paid for only 13 hours of their 24-hour shifts. The court’s ruling was based on a minimum wage exemption from the US Department of Labor. This exemption states that round-the-clock home care workers only have to be paid for 13 hours because workers typically get

Last week, two JetBlue flight attendants sued their employer in a U.S. District Court in New York. They accused two JetBlue pilots of drugging and raping them during a flight layover. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that JetBlue failed to take appropriate disciplinary action against the pilots after the flight attendants reported the assault. In addition to suing for aggravated sexual abuse and assault and battery, these women are also suing their employer for sex discrimination and civil rights violations.

Flight

Twenty-eight members of the U.S. women’s soccer team recently filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer. Although the members of the U.S. women’s team are world champions, the suit alleges that female players are still paid less than their male counterparts. The female players will defend their world championship title this summer in France, but the players argue that “institutionalized gender discrimination” has existed for years within U.S. soccer.

Instances of Gender Discrimination in U.S. Soccer

The athletes allege that their

The New York City Commission on Human Rights has released new guidelines preventing employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of hairstyle. Hairstyle discrimination will now legally be considered a form of racial discrimination. This new law was put in place specifically to protect black workers. The New York City Commission on Human Rights stated that New Yorkers have a right to maintain “natural hair, treated or untreated hairstyles such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, Afros,

A former KFC worker, Autumn Lampkins, recently won a case against her previous employer in which she claimed she was being discriminated against for breastfeeding in the workplace. Her job required 10-hour shifts, so she needed to pump breast milk at work in order for her newborn to have enough to drink.

Unfair Consequences for Breastfeeding at Work

When Lampkins was first hired to be an assistant manager at a Delaware location of KFC, just a few months after having a

In 1980, Dolly Parton released her hit single, “9 to 5.” This anthem is about workplace gender discrimination, written by Parton, a southern female country singer. The song was written for the 1980 comedy film of the same name. With lyrics like “they just use your mind and they never give you credit” and “you got dreams he’ll never take away,” Dolly Parton was one of the earliest artists to tackle the issue of gender inequality in the workplace. Dolly

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act” in May of 2018. In a statement, Mayor de Blasio said, “Society has been stacked in favor of men for far too long, leading many to believe they can harass women without fear of punishment. New York City will not allow that [to] continue.” De Blasio continued by saying that “we are taking action to protect workers against sexual harassment and saying loudly and clearly that anyone

Salary secrecy impacts the gender wage gap in subtle ways. Pay transparency might have a significant benefit: closing the gender wage gap. When salaries are kept secret, pay discrimination becomes a lot easier for employers. Without salary transparency, workers may not know if they are being underpaid. Could pay transparency eradicate the gender wage gap altogether?

Subtle Discrimination

Salary secrecy may particularly affect the gender wage gap, which is subtle in nature. For example, men are seen as more likeable during salary