Have you been the victim of employment discrimination?

Attention Employees - Have you faced inferior terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of your age, race, creed, color, national original, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, domestic violence victim status, or because you have opposed discrimination at work?

Did you know that you only need to prove that this discrimination rises above what a reasonable victim of discrimination with the same protected characteristic would consider petty slights or trivial inconveniences to win your claim?

Did you know that you can recover lost wages?
Are you aware that you can be reinstated into your job?
Better yet, did you know that your employer could be required to pay you punitive damages (punishment)?

Guess what? Courts have been directed to award you reasonable attorney's fees if you win. This means that your employer's exposure goes up the entire time that they are defending the claim - it's a huge motivation for your employer to settle with you quickly.

Yesterday, 8/12/19, you were given a voice by the Governor - it's time for you to use that voice and speak up to end discrimination in the workplace.

Alert: CT Reduces Threshold for Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training

Effective October 1, 2019, Employers in Connecticut have new sexual harassment prevention obligations.

By way of Public Act No. 19-16, which amends General Statutes 46a-54(1)(15), now employers, with three or more employees, must:

• Within three months of start date, provide information concerning illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available by email or posting;
• Provide two hours of training and education between October 1, 2019 and 2020; and
• Provide such training to new hires within six months of start date.

Then, employers must provide periodic supplementain traings and updates not less than every ten years. 

The new training requirement is for all employees rather than just supervisors employees, as previously required, and it's applicable to employers with three or more employees rather than the previous fifty employee requirement.

 

Alert: Cuomo Makes it Easier for Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims

Attention Employers and HR!!!!

Cuomo signs sexual harassment law- as we first reported on June 19, 2019, A08421 passed both houses and now Cuomo has made it the law of the State of New York.

The legislation does the following:

• Changes the severe or pervasive standard of harassment to a very low standard of more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences;
• Eliminates part of the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense to a lawsuit by making the fact that the employee did not make a complaint about the harassment to the employer not determinative as to liability;
• Extends protection for non-employees in the workplace to all protected classes;
• Allows courts to award attorney's fees on all claims of employment discrimination, and allow for punitive damages in employment discrimination cases against private employers;
• Provide that the Human Rights Law is to be construed liberally for remedial purposes, regardless of how federal laws have been construed;
• Prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses for discrimination claims;
• Prohibit non-disclosure agreements in any settlement for a claim of discrimination, unless it's the complainant's preference;
• Provide that any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement is void if it prohibits the complainant from initiating or participating in an agency investigation or disclosing facts necessary to receive public benefits;
• Require that employees be notified that non-disclosure agreements in employment contracts cannot prevent them from talking to the police, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the State Division of Human Rights or a similar local entity, or a lawyer;
• Extend the authority of the Attorney General to prosecute certain civil and criminal cases of discrimination against all protected classes;
• Require the Department of Labor and the Division of Human Rights to evaluate the impact of the model sexual harassment prevention policy every four years and update the policy as needed;
• Require any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement be provided in writing to all parties, in plain English and the primary language of the complainant;
• Require the commissioner of the Labor Department to prepare templates of the model policy in languages other than English;
• Require every employer to provide employees with their sexual harassment policy in English or their primary language when they are hired and during training; and
• Extend the statute of limitations to file a sexual harassment complaint with the Division of Human Rights from one year to three years.

Visit discriminationpreventiontraining.com to keep your company safe from discrimination claims while maintaining a safe workplace for all.

Deadline looms in sexual harassment prevention training

October 9th, 2019 is the deadline for all employees to complete the sexual harassment prevention training. Newsday recently interviewed Andrew Lieb, Esq. of Lieb Compliance discussing the requirements and solution.

Click here to read the full article. 

Legally Speaking: The End of Prepaid Seasonal Rentals Revisited

When you shoot the messenger, don’t miss.

One month ago, the Legally Speaking column “The End of Prepaid Seasonal Rentals” hit, and real estate brokers have been reaching out ever since. The article explained that the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 prohibits prepaid seasonal rentals and requires that tenants be billed monthly for rent. After reading the headline, brokers instantly jumped on it. They questioned the veracity of the story, the applicability of the law and everything in between. Now I respond while detailing five false assertions made in response to the article.

Read the full article by Andrew Lieb, Esq. published in Dan's Papers here. 

NYS Prohibits Discrimination Against Religious Attire and Facial Hair

Today, August, 9, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed A4204 into law.

As a result, on October 8, 2019 new amended Executive law 296(10)(a) will prohibit religious discrimination in employment that concerns "the wearing of any attire, clothing, or facial hair in accordance with the requirements of his or her religion."

Attention Employers - Update your dress code now to include this express right. 

The only exception to the new protection is if an employer can demonstrate an "undue hardship" on their business resulting from such religious attire.