New York Employment Lawyer Blog

A recent New York Times article reported that the economic downturn has had the same negative impact on the female members of the workforce as it has had on male employees. The article describes that this is the first time since the women’s movement that the same percentage of women at work has fallen, instead of rising, as compared to men.

At first, economists attributed the drop-off to women deciding to stay home to raise families or maintain a home. However, economists now believe that women are reacting as men have to the slowing economy by dropping out and waiting for more favorable financial conditions.

The study, initiated by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, cites the evidence that women are leaving the workforce “on par with men,” and believes the situation holds “potentially disastrous consequences for families.”

The United States is known as the land of opportunity. Millions of immigrants have flocked to its shores in order to escape persecution start a new life in a country free from harassment, discrimination, and intolerance. This too became true for Americans with disabilities in the early 1970s with the passing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and then with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It was then that employees with disabilities were officially recognized as having protected rights against unfounded disability discrimination.

However, despite the “good intentions” behind the ADA, a recent article in The National Law Journal described the shortcomings of the bill and pushed for Senate approval of the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA). The article described the inadequacies of the ADA, citing the dilemma Americans with disabilities face - if they attempt to mitigate their disabilities, they can no longer be considered disabled, however, if they do not, they can be considered unfit to perform their job.

The article acknowledges the potential problem that people will take advantage of the ADAAA in order to obtain monetary compensation for concocted disabilities, however, the article states how individuals who are truly disabled will get the opportunities they deserve to have a role in the workforce free from disability discrimination.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, sexual harassment exists in one of New York City’s most prominent restaurants. The article describes the sexual harassment of Martha Nyakin Gatkouth, an émigré from Ethiopia, while she worked as the hostess at Tavern on the Green, one of the most famous restaurants in New York City.

“It was a daily thing,” she states. “I felt scared, terrified, embarrassed, sad.” After having her case dropped by the Manhattan District Attorney, Gatkouth went to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which opened an investigation. Although other employees admitted to being sexually harassed, none were willing to come forward for fear of workplace retaliation.

The New York Law Journal recently reported that a prominent New York law firm has filed a countersuit against a former Partner. The firm accuses the former Partner, who had originally filed a defamation suit against the firm, of “extremely inappropriate personal conduct,” claiming he had a “pattern of [making] suggestive comments, sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexually-oriented teasing, gender-specific jokes and obscene gestures” to other employees.