The Law Offices of Neal Brickman, P.C.

New York City anti-discrimination laws tend to be far stricter than federal laws and laws in other states. This is due, in part, to the city’s Human Rights Law. The Human Rights Law covers employment and a variety of other areas, such as housing, public accommodations, and retaliation. It also extends coverage beyond the standard protected classes of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation to alienage, gender identity, lactation, and status as a veteran.

Yes, you might be able to file a personal injury claim against your employer to recover compensation for emotional distress. It tends to be a complex legal matter because, in this situation, the injuries and/or damages are not physical. You will need to understand what constitutes emotional distress according to the law and about the two types of emotional distress: Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

Economic damages are easy to determine because they include objectively verifiable costs.Calculating non-economic damages more complicated. One of two methods is usually used: The Multiplier Method multiplies total economic damages by a specific factor. This factor might range from 1.5 to 5, but can be much higher or lower depending on the circumstances. The Daily Rate Method determines a fair “daily rate” for living with your injuries, and then multiplies this rate by the number of days spent recovering from the accident.

Economic damages are paid to a claimant based financial losses. This might include lost earnings, compensation for medical expenses, past or future, lost business opportunities as a result of injuries suffered, cost of repairing or replacing damaged property, or costs that result in non-permissible use of a plaintiff’s property. To receive economic damages, a plaintiff will need to prove the defendant had a duty, that duty was breached, the actual and proximate cause of breach, and damages.

Damages are a legal remedy paid to a claimant as compensation for his or her loss or injury. To receive damages, claimants must show that a breach of duty occurred and that there was damage to property, or mental or physical injury. If a loss is purely economic it is rarely recognized for the award of damages.The purpose of damages is to restore an injured party to their original before being harmed.

Proving discrimination can be challenging, but it is possible. Typically, it is proven in one of two ways: 1. There is direct evidence the discrimination occurred, such as you applied for a promotion and were told “we will not promote you because you are female.” 2. There is circumstantial evidence the discrimination occurred. To do this, you will need to show you are a member of a protected class and you were denied an employment opportunity for that reason.

A protected class is a group of people who share a common trait and therefore receive legal protection from being discriminated against on the basis of that trait. Examples include race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and veteran status. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other state and federal laws and regulations prohibit discrimination against individuals or groups of individuals based on their membership in a protected class.

No, but in order to pursue a discrimination lawsuit you will need to do so. If you are accusing an employer of discrimination, you will need to make a signed statement asserting that the organization engaged in employment discrimination and requesting the EEOC take remedial action. Any of the laws enforced by the EEOC, aside from the Equal Pay Act, require there be a charged filed before an accuser can file a lawsuit for unlawful discrimination.

No. Federal anti-discrimination laws are in place that provides protection based on some protected characteristics. For example, discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religion are covered by law. But if somebody is treating you unfairly or even harassing you because they do not like you for some other reason, it is not illegal. Anti-discriminations laws do not address or protect against rude behavior or general mistreatment of job applicants or employees.

The EEOC, which is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is the agency responsible for enforcing federal laws regarding workplace discrimination or harassment. The agency also provides support for job applicants who believe they were not hired due to discriminatory reasons. It has the authority to investigate allegations of discrimination against employers covered under the laws. Should the agency find that discrimination occurred; it attempts a settlement and will file a lawsuit, if a settlement is not possible.