WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

FDNY EMT Margot Loth has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in  Manhattan Federal Court against her former superior Donna Tiberi, an FDNY Deputy Chief. Loth claims that she was mistreated by Tiberi after her appearance in the 2019 FDNY sexy Calendar of Heroes as Miss March. Proceeds from the sale of these calendars go to the FDNY Foundation, which funds CPR training, fire safety education for New Yorkers, and equipment for FDNY members. After her appearance in the calendar, Toth

Managing partner Christopher Q. Davis was quoted in an article published by Monster, the popular job search engine. Monster is a global employment website that helps connect job seekers with employers looking to hire. In an article about at-will employment and the shock of layoffs, Monster quoted Christopher saying ““Most employees start jobs and no one ever thinks about what’s going to happen in the event of termination.” The Monster article proceeds to provide information about legal protection during and

The New York City Human Rights Commission (NYCCHR) recently settled a lawsuit against Pax Assist, a contractor for both JFK and LaGuardia airports. Pax Assist provides wheelchairs to airport passengers with disabilities. NYCCHR’s lawsuit alleged that Pax Assist religiously discriminated against Muslim employees when it refused to allow them breaks for daily prayer or for meals at nighttime during Ramadan. Additionally, employees complained that managers made derogatory comments about Muslims. Alleged discriminatory comments from managers include “we’ll give you a

Recent studies have exposed a significant link between increased reports of racial discrimination towards Asian Americans during the pandemic and deteriorating mental health. Charissa S.L. Cheah, PhD, of the University of Maryland and her colleagues recently published a study in Pediatrics detailing the detrimental impact of increased racism brought on by COVID-19. Researchers conducted a survey of 543 Asian American parents and 230 of their children and wrote, “This study revealed that a high percentage of Chinese American parents and

McDonald’s is currently facing a lawsuit seeking class action status that alleges racial discrimination against Black franchises. This lawsuit was filed last week in Illinois. The leading plaintiffs are two brothers, James Byrd Jr. and Darrell Byrd, who run four McDonald’s franchises in the Nashville, Tennessee area and are seeking up to $4-5 million in damages per store.  The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of 186 other Black-owned franchises throughout the nation. Each individual franchise can choose whether or

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

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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