New York City Commission on Human Rights

EMPLOYMENT

Your organization must have four or more workers for you to be protected by the City Human Rights Law. The Law prohibits discrimination in hiring and firing as well as work assignments, salary, benefits, promotions, performance evaluations, and discipline based upon race, color, creed, age, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, gender (including gender identity and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, disability, arrest or conviction record, marital status, partnership status, or status as a victim of domestic violence, stalking and sex offenses. The Law also prohibits your employer from making statements, asking questions during interviews or circulating job announcements that suggest a preference for or prejudice against hiring individuals based on the groups listed above. The Law also applies to employment agencies and labor organizations.

Reasonable Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities in the Workplace

If you have a disability, your employer is required to make reasonable accommodation to enable you to perform and fulfill the requirements of your job. The City Human Rights Law defines a disability as any physical, medical, mental or psychological impairment, or a history or a record of an impairment. A reasonable accommodation to a person with a disability is one that will not cause an undue hardship in the operation of the employer’s business.

It is your responsibility as an employee with a disability to inform your employer that you need an accommodation. Your employer may ask for written documentation from your health care provider to support the request.

If you are applying for a job and have a disability, your prospective employer may not ask you about the existence, nature or severity of a disability, although you may be asked about your ability to perform specific job functions. An employer may not make medical inquiries or conduct a medical examination of you, the applicant, until a job offer has been made. Medical examinations of employees must be job-related and consistent with the employer’s business needs.

Some examples of a reasonable accommodation include:
• Making existing workplace facilities readily accessible to and usable by an employee
with a disability
• Job restructuring
• Modification of work schedules
• Reassignment to a vacant position
• Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices
• Adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies
• Providing qualified readers or interpreters

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a form of gender-based discrimination. Unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes unlawful sexual harassment when:
• Granting sexual favors is used as the basis for employment decisions or as a requirement to keep your job
• Such conduct unreasonably interferes with job performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment

The harasser and the target can be a man or a woman. Harassment can be verbal, physical or pictorial and can include: sexual comments, jokes, innuendo, pressure for dates, sexual touching, sexual gestures, and sexual graffiti. The complainant does not have to be the person at whom the offensive conduct is directed, but can be anyone affected by the conduct.

If you believe you are a victim of sexual harassment, you should clearly communicate to the harasser that the conduct is unwelcome. You should also immediately inform a manager or the equal employment opportunity officer.

Retaliation

It is against the Law for your employer to retaliate against you because you opposed an unlawful discriminatory practice or made a charge, or if you testified, assisted or participated in an investigation, proceeding or hearing. The Law protects you against retaliation as long as you have a reasonable good faith belief that the employer’s conduct is illegal, even if it turns out that you were mistaken as to the legality of the employer’s conduct.