From Miletti Law®, the home of the #UnusuallyMotivated movement, we highly appreciate that you, our unusually motivated® readers, take the time to read our trustworthy & distinctive content that aims to keep you informed and educated about the diverse legal and non-legal issues that affect you or your businesses. As usual, our content is featured as videos that are posted on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvUryqkkMAJLwrLu2BBt6w and blogs that are published on our website WWW.MILETTILAW.COM. We highly encourage you to subscribe to the channel and sign up for the Newsletter on the website to experience, firsthand, the unusually motivating effect of the knowledge bombs we drop.

At Miletti Law®, we are the self-proclaimed Authoritative Force in employment and labor law. As such, in pursuit of our goal to keep you educated, informed, and enlightened, we have continued creating trustworthy, competent, and distinctive content in the form of videos and blogs on what the labor law, particularly in the New York City, says about a myriad of workplace and employment issues. Some of these issues include, but not limited to “Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, & Retaliation,” “Pregnancy & Parental Rights,” “Recruiting & Screening Issues,” “Compensation & Wage and Hour Issues,” “Predictive Scheduling – Fair Workweek Law,” “Employee Leave, Sick, & Safe Time, “ and “Independent Contractors & the Gig Economy.” In most cases, law is dynamic by nature. While this characteristic raises questions concerning how to interpret statutes and documents under different factual and legal circumstances, the law keeps changing with time. Essentially, amendments take place all the time and, thus, the original law changes or is interpreted differently. Well, nothing stays in the same form forever, except change itself.

For this reason, we endeavor to continue providing you with updates on any changes, amendments, and what areas of the New York State employment and labor law apply to diverse employment and labor issues. Importantly, we are going to particularly focus on how these issues affect New York employees and employers. In that spirit, this blog introduces you to a brand new series on one of the most sensitive employment issues in New York, specifically harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. That being said, here is Part I of this series.

What Laws Apply to Workplace Harassment, Discrimination, & Retaliation in New York?

As hinted above, we have talked about what the New York Employment and Labor Law says about harassment, discrimination, & retaliation in the workplace. However, what specific laws are applicable to these employment issues? For the purposes of record, any information concerning the applicable laws, as discussed in this blog, were current as of May 15, 2021.

As we have mentioned in our past blogs, it is the responsibility of eligible employers to ensure that they comply and, most importantly, remain compliant with laws covering workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in New York. Below is an overview of four of these laws:

The New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) (NYC Administrative Code 8-101 et seq.)

New York City’s employees, freelancers, independent contractors (gig workers), applicants, and interns now enjoy protections from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation under the NYCHRL based on their membership in a protected category, as provided for under NYC Administrative Code 8-101 et seq.

The New York Equal Pay Act (N.Y. Lab. Law § 194)

Employees in New York now enjoy protections from wage discrimination under the New York Equal Pay Act as of October 8, 2019, based on their membership as member(s) of one or more protected class, as provided for under the NYSHRL, N.Y. Lab. Law § 194.

The New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) (N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq.)

The NYSHRL, as provided for under N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq., protects New York City’s employees, domestic workers, non-employees (gig workers/independent contractors & freelance workers), applicants, and unpaid interns from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation as members of a protected class. As provided for under 9 NYCRR § 466.14(c)(1), the law’s discriminatory prohibitions encompass protections for persons who have been associated with or known to have a relationship with a member(s) of a protected class.

Reproductive Health Discrimination Protection (N.Y. Lab. Law § 203-e).

This statute, as provided for under the NYSHRL, prohibits discrimination of an employee based on their decisions towards reproductive health, or that of their dependents.

In Part II of this series, we are going to hammer on the coverage (employee coverage, employer coverage, and/or individual liability standards) of each of these laws that prohibit workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in New York.

Till then stay tuned and, as usual, always be #UnusuallyMotivated! In the interim, reach us with questions or comments at the Contact Us page!

Always rising above the bar,

Isaac T.,

Legal Writer & Author.