New York Employment Lawyer Blog

In a July 22 article, the New York Times reports that the recent 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 came to life that the same percentage of women at work has fallen, instead of rising.

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

The Joint Economic Committee 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.”

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

However, despite the “good intentions” behind the ADA, the National Law Journal in a June 30, 2008 article describes the shortcomings of the bill, and pushes for Senate approval of the ADA Amendment Act (ADAAA). The article describes 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 compensations 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.

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The New York Times reports in a July 2, 2008 article that sexual harassment exists in 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 of a famous New York restaurant.

“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 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which opened an investigation. Although other employees admitted to being harassed, none were willing to come forward for fear of being retaliated against.

If you believe you have been put in a similar situation, please contact us for a free initial consultation.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Sexual Harassment

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The New York Law Journal reports in a July 8, 2008 article 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 in a “pattern of suggestive comments, sexual innuendo, sexual propositions, sexually-oriented teasing, gender-specific jokes and obscene gestures” according to the firm in its twenty page complaint.

Sexual harassment has no place in the workplace. If you feel you have been subject to such unjust treatment, please feel free to contact us for an initial consultation free of charge.

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Posted In: Employment Discrimination , Sexual Harassment

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The American Lawyer has reported in a July 2, 2008 article that a major US corporation has lost its third straight wage-and-hour class action lawsuit. After a three month bench trial, Judge Robert King, Jr. decided that in failing to provide rest breaks, the company broke state laws over two million times. Judge King awarded $6.5 million to the class which was made up of 56,000 employees in the state of Minnesota.

According to the lead lawyer of the class, Franklin Azar, the corporation faces at least five more such wage-and-hour suits.

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