Gay and Lesbian Discrimination

Employment Attorneys Serving Individuals throughout New York City

The last thing you should expect to experience while you are working hard on the job is discrimination from your employer, coworkers, and customers regarding your sexual orientation. Despite the many strides that have been made toward ensuring equality for gay and lesbian individuals, many employers and colleagues have strong biases and prejudices against them that have a negative and inexcusable impact on a victim’s ability to perform his or her job duties. At Phillips & Associates, our sexual orientation discrimination lawyers have provided experienced legal guidance to New York City residents who have experienced unlawful discrimination based on their identity as gay or lesbian.

Protections against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Workplace

Currently, there are no federal laws that provide express protections for private sector employees from sexual orientation discrimination. Federal laws do provide protections for gay and lesbian employees working in government positions. In some situations, however, sexual orientation can fall within federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex and gender.

The state of New York has enacted a number of laws that apply to private sector workplaces and that protect employees in those positions from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. These rules prohibit employers from making decisions based on an employee’s sexual orientation or allowing incidents of sexual orientation discrimination to persist in the workplace, regardless of whether the comments come from another employee or customer.

Sexual orientation discrimination can take place in many forms in the workplace, and not always in the most obvious and easily identifiable way. In general, discrimination against gay and lesbian people occurs when an employer treats an individual differently based solely on his or her identity as gay or lesbian. This applies even when the employer is treating you differently based on an incorrect belief regarding your sexual orientation. Additionally, it does not matter whether your employer believes your sexual orientation is right or wrong.

The laws protecting gay and lesbian individuals apply to every stage of the hiring process, including hiring, promotions, job assignments, benefits, wage and hour decisions, and bonuses. Some common examples of sexual discrimination based on one’s identity as gay or lesbian include harassment from colleagues or supervisors regarding sexual orientation, derogatory comments about gay and lesbian people in general, or being asked to not express or refer to your sexual orientation during work. Similarly, an employer who says that an employee is too masculine or too feminine for a particular assignment or position based on his or her sexual orientation likely has engaged in discrimination.

Contact a New York City Lawyer for a Gender Discrimination Claim

If you have suffered discrimination at work based on your sexual orientation as gay or lesbian, you may be entitled to compensation. It is important to keep accurate records of each incident of discrimination in a New York City workplace and to consult an experienced gender discrimination attorney who can help you investigate your claim and bring a lawsuit if necessary. At Phillips & Associates, we have helped many gay and lesbian employees throughout Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens seek the compensation they deserve after suffering from this type of unlawful conduct. We can guide you through every step of the process and assert your rights aggressively along the way. Call us now at (866) 229-9441 or contact us online to set up an appointment.

• Fired for Being Gay
• Fired for Being Lesbian