For nearly a decade, New York State and New York City have had laws prohibiting employers from discriminating against workers or job applicants based on their past criminal arrest history. Nevertheless, problems remain and some employers continue to engage in impermissible discrimination in this manner. New York City and New York State’s laws recognize that people who have been arrested in the past should not be frozen out of gainful employment now. If you have encountered this type of discrimination in hiring or employment, talk to a New York arrest history discrimination lawyer about the legal options that may exist for you.
The New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) lists specific arrest-related circumstances where employer discrimination is banned. If the prosecution dismissed the charges against you, if the case was resolved via a “youthful offender” adjudication, if you were convicted but the matter was sealed under CPL 160.55, or if you were convicted and the matter was conditionally sealed under CPL 160.58, your employer or prospective employer cannot use it against you, then your employer cannot factor that into the hiring process or workplace discipline decision-making.
Allegedly, a New York Police Department officer lost his job for exactly that reason. Last month, a trial court in Manhattan denied most of the city’s motion to dismiss, thereby green-lighting the officer to continue his arrest history discrimination case.
Police in Brooklyn arrested the officer arrested in February 2018 after an incident of alleged domestic violence involving the officer and his fiancée. When the Brooklyn District Attorney closed the case, the criminal charges were dismissed and the matter was sealed. Nevertheless, the NYPD fired the officer in 2020 as a result of the arrest.
The officer’s lawsuit alleged arrest history discrimination in violation of both the NYSHRL and the New York City Human Rights Law. The city tried to get the case thrown out, but the judge presiding over the case allowed most of the officer’s claims to survive.
The court determined that the officer’s allegations laid out a straightforward case of arrest history discrimination; namely, that “it is unlawful to take an adverse employment action against a person who is arrested and has that arrest resolved in their favor,” but that the NYPD used the officer’s 2018 arrest as the basis for his 2020 termination.
The judge also took a moment to note that even if the court in Brooklyn had convicted the officer of the alleged charges, the city could only take an adverse employment action against him under a narrow set of circumstances. Namely, the criminal conduct that led to a conviction must be something that “had a direct relationship to the job or the proven conduct creates an unreasonable risk to the public” for the city to carry out a termination, demotion, or any other adverse action.
The facts that the officer allegedly pointed in the precise opposite direction. In the criminal case, the officer “specifically pleaded that the domestic violence charges against him did not have a direct relationship to his duties as a police officer and did not pose an unreasonable risk to the public.”
The officer also presented additional evidence that bolstered this point. He offered to the court “examples of similarly situated police officers, convicted of domestic violence and other offenses, who retained their employment with the NYPD.” These specific instances revealed that not only did the officer not view his conduct as having a direct relationship to his post or posing an unreasonable risk to the public, but the NYPD also did not “view such conduct as inherently incompatible with police duties or a risk to public safety,” either.
New York believes that people should not lose their jobs – or the opportunity to compete for a job – because they were arrested a decade ago in a matter where the charges were ultimately dropped, because they committed a youthful indiscretion, or because some dispute led to an arrest but no charges. The experienced New York arrest history discrimination attorneys at Phillips & Associates believe that, too. Our team is dedicated to pursuing workplace equality for people with an arrest history. Our attorneys are deeply knowledgeable in this area of discrimination law and are here to help you seek justice. To learn more, contact us online or at (866) 229-9441 to set up a free and confidential consultation.