New York City gender Discrimination

Lawyers at Akin & Smith represent clients who are dealing with gender-based discrimination at work. We are knowledgeable about the variety of state and federal employment legislation covering gender discrimination cases in New York.

Gender discrimination can occur at any time in the employment relationship, whether at the initial hiring process through the last date of employment. It is frequently accompanied in the workplace environment by sexual harassment. Both are violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as state and city laws.

Gender Discrimination

Employment gender discrimination in the workplace is generally recognized as taking four basic forms:

• Disparate Treatment occurs when an employee is treated differently because of gender.
• Disparate Impact happens when an employer’s policies – even unintentionally – exclude or otherwise adversely affect employees on the basis of gender.
• Sexual harassment/Hostile Work Environment is identifiable when misconduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
• Sexual harassment/Quid Pro Quo is seen when misconduct is linked to a grant or denial of an economic benefit.

Employers have a duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Once a complaint of sexual harassment is made, an employer must undertake all reasonable steps to addressing the problem and preventing it from occurring again. It is not necessary for discrimination to have an overtly sexual component to qualify as gender discrimination.

Prohibited conduct includes any conduct that wouldn’t have occurred unless the employee was male or female. This can include comments about the suitability of workers of a particular gender for a particular job or a pattern of excluding qualified individuals from jobs because of their gender.

Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Gender discrimination in the workplace is a complex area of the law and employees should consult with knowledgeable attorneys if they feel they are sexually harassed or being treated unequally because of their gender. A lawsuit on the basis of sexual harassment may likely require the filing of a claim with different state and federal administrative agencies.

Individuals who think they have been sexually harassed are strongly advised to seek legal assistance. As experienced labor attorneys in New York City, Akin & Smith gender discrimination lawyers can help you seek the best resolution to your discrimination case.