SEXUAL HARASSMENT

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SEX (GENDER) DISCRIMINATION

Sex discrimination involves treating an applicant or employee unfavorably because of that person’s sex. It encompasses sexual harassment, gender, gender identity, including transgender status, or sexual orientation discrimination.  The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

 

McKinley Onua handles a wide range of sexual harassment cases for men, women and transgender individuals. We represent high ranking executives, management and all other level employees in small or large companies. Our attorneys are skilled, sophisticated and have decades of experience amongst them. They are uniquely qualified to represent victims of sexual harassment and are trained to treat clients with the compassion they deserve.

The Law

  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended; NYS Human Rights Law and; NYC Human Rights law, amongst others, provide protections against sex discrimination in the workplace.
  • It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.
  • Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general.
  • Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).

 Protected Individuals

  • The law protects all employees…working for organizations of 4 or more…

Potential Violators

  • The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.
  • Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex.

What The Law Protects

  • The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.
  • An employer may not base an employment decision on an employee’s sex without a legitimate business reason—these are rare.
  • The law makes it illegal for an employer or other covered entityto use an employment policy or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of sex, if it has a negative impact on people of a certain sex and is not job-related or necessary to the operation of the business.