COVID-19 came to New York and the rest of the United States in early 2020. While the worst of the virus' effects, in terms of deaths and hospitalizations, are behind us, some of its byproducts remain disturbingly high. One of those is hate and discrimination targeting people of East Asian ancestry. In New York State and New York City, workplace discrimination based on someone’s nationality, ethnicity, or origin is illegal if it is anything more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences. If you have encountered that sort of discrimination, including COVID jokes/comments and more, you may be entitled to seek justice through the civil court system. Contact an experienced New York ethnic discrimination lawyer to learn more about your options.
A study by the Asian American Foundation released this past March revealed that more than half of Asian American New Yorkers (54%) “said they had experienced ‘either insults, harassment, threats, or physical attacks in the past 12 months.’” More than 3/5 (62%) “said they had witnessed someone else experience ‘either insults, harassment, threats, or physical attacks in the past 12 months.’”
Inappropriate jokes, comments, and harassment remain a problem in New York workplaces, both blue-collar and white-collar. One recent example comes from the white-collar world of property management.
Ethnic Stereotyping... and Racist COVID Jokes
The employee was a Korean-American man who worked as an in-house lawyer. The employer was a Midtown property management company. Allegedly, the racially-tinged harassment started before the emergence of COVID-19. According to the lawsuit, shortly after the attorney began working for the company in 2018, a manager began referring to the lawyer, whose last name was “Lee,” as “Bruce Lee,” which was the name of a famous martial arts movie star originally from Hong Kong. Additionally, the attorney allegedly fielded racist questions like “Why don’t you ‘own a dry-cleaning business like other Korean people’?”
According to the complaint, the harassment added a new layer in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Coworkers allegedly made jokes inappropriately associating the lawyer “with COVID-19 . . . due to his Asian heritage,” such as one female coworker joking that “everyone needs to stand six feet away from me, especially him," while pointing at Lee.
In September 2022, the lawyer sued. He asserted discrimination claims under federal law (Title VII), state law (the New York State Human Rights Law,) and city law (the New York City Human Rights Law.)
Different Legal Standards Based on When the Harassment Happened
The timing of the discrimination a New York employee endured matters a great deal when it comes to pursuing a lawsuit. In 2019, New York State amended its Human Rights Law. The effective date for those amendments was October 11, 2019. Workers whose NYSHRL cases involve discrimination occurring before and after that date (as this lawyer’s case did) must argue that the misconduct they experienced violated two different standards. Harassment taking place before October 11, 2019, must satisfy the old NYSHRL standard, which mirrored the federal standard. Alleged violations occurring after October 11, 2019, must only clear the new, lower standard, which mirrors the rules of the NYCHRL. That law only requires proof that you were “treated less well… because of a discriminatory intent.”
The attorney’s case fell short of the old NYSHRL threshold but was sufficient to satisfy the new standard. A barrage of disparaging jokes, comments, and insults, which the lawyer alleged were “incessant,” can be enough to rise above mere petty slights or trivial inconveniences.
The attorney’s allegations were similar to a 2022 case where the court similarly denied an employer’s motion to dismiss. In that lawsuit, an Uzbek woman who worked as an NYPD officer alleged an array of insults and ethnic jokes, including a sergeant who insisted that Uzbeks “lived in the mountains and ate horse meat,” and would allegedly “neigh like a horse” in the officer’s direction when he was around her. That conduct, the court said, was egregious enough to constitute more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences.
Everyone who works in New York is entitled to ply their trade or profession free from the cancer that is workplace discrimination. That includes a workplace free from disgusting racial/ethnic stereotypes and “jokes” about what a person’s ancestors or countrymen did or did not wear, eat, or do for a living. If you have experienced similar harm, you may be entitled to compensation for the damaging effects that mistreatment had on you. Get in touch with the knowledgeable New York national origin discrimination attorneys at Phillips & Associates to find out how you can get justice. Our team is dedicated to fighting aggressively for workers who have been harmed by ethnic discrimination in the workplace in New York City, as well as Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties. Contact us online or at (833) 529-3476 to set up a free and confidential consultation.