WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

The publisher of several magazines targeted towards young women has been sued over allegedly having a sexist workplace culture. A360 Media publishes Us Weekly, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style, and Star. Brittany Romano, a former commerce writer at A360 Media, filed a gender and disability discrimination action with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). She alleged that her former employer has an abusive and “sexist, all boy club culture.” Romano’s suit, filed in New York, also alleges that a

Alarming changes in the SDNY EEOC

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, is tasked with investigating charges of discrimination against employers. The EEOC is currently extremely backlogged with cases. Recently, employment lawyers in New York have received a flurry of dismissals or non-action from southern district EEOC offices. This is due to a change in the way the EEOC processes cases that allows for them to be more easily transferred, without investigation, to other jurisdictions and agencies.

This policy

Follow our firm on Instagram to keep up to date with important firm news and the latest trends in employment law. Scan our code below to follow us! Here’s how:

1. Open your phone camera on Instagram
2. Hold your finger down over our code to focus your camera
3. Follow us!

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