WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

In April of 2019, two former female employees of Disney, LaRonda Rasmussen and Karen Moore, filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Country Superior Court against the company alleging pay discrimination based on gender. They claimed their male counterparts were being paid more than them for similar work. Eight more women have since joined the lawsuit. All ten women are being represented by Lori E. Andrus, who is attempting to certify the case as a class action lawsuit. Last month,

From the Mets to the NFL to the Metropolitan Opera, women have long experienced sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. The military is yet another employer often faced with sexual assault and harassment allegations from female employees. Last month, we spotted a viral Tik Tok by Sgt. Dalina. In the video, she explains that she reported one of her military coworkers for sexual misconduct. The accused coworker was honorably discharged because “he made a mistake, fell into temptation, but

Employers in New Jersey can now mandate that employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to the workplace, with some exceptions. The state provided this new information in a “recent guidance that lays out a legal road map for businesses that want to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy,” according to a Law360 article. Exemptions from vaccination are required only for employees who are unable to receive the vaccine due to religious reasons, a disability, or health concerns, such as pregnancy

Ever since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were moved to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, athletes and fans alike have eagerly awaited the start of the competition. However, LGBT workers in Japan are calling for a new law to be enacted before the Olympic Games commence this summer. Activists say that this LGBT equality law needs to be passed so that Japan, as the Olympic host country, will comply with the Olympic Charter, which bans sexual orientation discrimination and sex

Last month marks a year since the Covid-19 pandemic fully emerged in the United States. Throughout the course of the last year, significant change has taken place at the state, national, and global levels in efforts to combat the extremity of the virus. As a result, progress has occurred in many sectors, including the transition of schools and jobs to virtual platforms, the implementation of social distancing guidelines and rigid cleaning requirements in businesses, and the mass distribution of the

Last week, the New York legislature reached a deal that, if approved, will legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 years of age and older. According to a New York Times article, this deal is “paving the way for a potential $4.2 billion industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs and become one of the largest markets in the country.” The bill could be passed as soon as this week. The deal allows for marijuana to be delivered

For the past several months, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been investigating reports of systemic racial bias in hiring and promotions at Facebook. When the EEOC labels a probe as “systemic,” it means that the agency believes that the company’s actions and/or policies may be contributing to widespread discrimination, rather than a few isolated incidents. As a recent Reuters article explains, “agency officials designate a few cases ‘systemic,’ enabling investigators to rope in specialists to analyze company data

A former analyst for BlackRock, Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, has alleged discrimination in the workplace. Essma Bengabsia was one of the few hijab-wearing women on the New York trading floor. She now alleges workplace harassment on the basis of her religion, race, and sex. When she first started at BlackRock, Bengabsia described that she “was thrilled to break a glass ceiling and chart into new frontiers on behalf of marginalized and underrepresented communities.” However, she claims this excitement