Here at the Law Office of Vincent Miletti, Esq. and the home of the #UnusuallyMotivated movement, we take pride as a resilient and dependable legal services firm, providing such services in both a traditional and online, web-based environment. With mastered specialization in areas such as Employment and Labor Law, Intellectual Property (IP) (trademark, copyright, patent), Entertainment Law, and e-Commerce (Supply Chain, Distribution, Fulfillment, Standard Legal & Regulatory), we provide a range of legal services including, but not limited to traditional legal representation (litigation, mediation, arbitration, opinion letters, and advisory), non-litigated business legal representation and legal counsel, and unique, online legal services such as smart forms, mobile training, legal marketing, and development.

Still, here at Miletti Law®, we feel obligated to enlighten, educate, and create awareness, free of charge, about how these issues and many others affect our unusually motivated® readers and/or their businesses. Accordingly, to achieve this goal, we have committed ourselves to creating authoritative, trustworthy, & distinctive content. Usually, this content is featured as videos posted on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvUryqkkMAJLwrLu2BBt6w and blogs that are published on our website WWW.MILETTILAW.COM. With that, the ball is in your court and you have an effortless obligation to subscribe to the channel and sign up for the Newsletter on the website, which encompasses the best way to ensure that you stay in the loop and feel the positive impact of the knowledge bombs that we drop here!

As the authoritative force in Employment Law, it only seemed right to introduce one of the many upcoming series in which we introduce a variety of topics that looks to educate and deliver in a manner that only Miletti Law® can. To that end, this blog is an introduction to yet another new series titled “Employer Coverage under Major New York’s Labor & Employment Laws.” While we have discussed the same in past blogs, we aim to provide employers with a hands-on guide to major New York state and city labor and employment laws under which they are covered. Some of the key issues covered include any exemptions to the definition of “employee” and “employer” under each statute, the types of employers covered under each statute, how to calculate the number of employees as required under each statute, and the count of employees needed to bring employers under coverage under each statute. Accordingly, we kickstart this discussion through our first blog, “Employer Coverage under New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL).” Before we start, it is critical to note that although the major labor and employment laws discussed in this series may be applicable to both private and public employers, this guide is intended for the former.

With that said, let us dive right into the discussion.

Employer Coverage under the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL)

  1. Exemptions

Pursuant to NYC Administrative Code § 8-107, subd.1(f), the NYCHRL is not applicable to individuals employed by their spouses, children, domestic partner(s), or parent(s).

  1. Types of Employers Covered

Pursuant to NYC Administrative Code 8-102, any employer with 4 individuals as its employees at all times during the duration starting 1 year prior to the beginning and going forward through the end of an unlawful discriminatory act/practice is not included as a covered employer. However, under the NYCHRL and pursuant to subdivision one of section 8-107, this applies provided that in a legal action for an unlawful discriminatory act/practice on the basis of gender-based harassment, the term “employer” shall encompass any employer, including any that has 4 individuals as their employees.

For the purposes of this definition, (i) the spouse, child, parent, or domestic partner employed by the employer are considered to be in such an employer’s employ and (ii) natural persons are included and considered to be individuals in such an employer’s employ as long they are working in furtherance of the business enterprise of the employer.

  1. How to Calculate the Required Number of Employees

This statute is applicable to all employees, freelancers, independent contractors, and interns unless the individual is employed by his or her child/children, domestic partner, spouse, or parent(s). However, pursuant to NYC Administrative Code § 8-102, such members of a family are considered and included during the determination of whether the employer has 4 or more employees.

  1. Minimum Count of Employees Required to Trigger Employer Coverage

Finally, pursuant to NYC Administrative Code 8- 102, the number of employees and/or independent contractors needed to bring an employer under coverage under the HYCHRL is at least 4.

In Part II of this series, we will move this discussion forward by hammering on “Employer Coverage under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL)” and provide an overview of similar key issues discussed above but related to the NYSHRL. As usual, stay tuned for more legal guidance, training, and education.

In the interim, if there are any questions or comments, please let us know at the Contact Us page!

Always rising above the bar,

Isaac T.,

Legal Writer & Author.