NYC Sexual Harassment Lawyer
Sexual harassment can interfere with everything from your career to your mental health, and it’s always wrong. Fortunately, an NYC sexual harassment attorney can help you hold the harasser accountable in civil court.
Sexual harassment encompasses a large number of crimes and other inappropriate behaviors in the workplace or elsewhere. Proving it can be difficult, especially if it happened only once, so contacting the right NYC sexual harassment lawyer can be critical to the success of your claim for compensation.
The attorneys at Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP have a track record of getting results in these cases, even when facing powerful corporations. We’re ready to help you achieve justice and fair compensation.
What Is Sexual Harassment?
The NYC Commission on Human Rights defines sexual harassment as a form of sexual discrimination. Victims can be witnesses, as well as the target, of the discrimination.
Unwelcome verbal, written, or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitutes unlawful sexual harassment when either of the following statements are true:
- Granting sexual favors is used as the basis for employment decisions or as a requirement to keep your job.
- The harassment interferes with job performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Sex harassment in NYC can be verbal, physical, or pictorial and can include the following:
- Sexual comments, jokes, or innuendo
- Pressure for dates
- Sexual touching or gestures
All sexual harassment is offensive and unwelcome, and there doesn’t have to be any monetary damage or job termination involved. Anyone, including non-employees, can be a harasser, and the sex or gender identity of the harasser or victim is irrelevant.
Types of Workplace Sexual Harassment
The two common types of workplace sexual harassment in NYC are as follows:
- Quid Pro Quo – This is when an employment benefit is offered or withheld in an effort to secure a sexual favor.
- Hostile Work Environment – This is when inappropriate behavior, including demeaning sexual photographs, calendars, jokes, threats, or comments, is so regular and pervasive that the victim is intimidated or offended.
A single incident of quid pro quo sex harassment can easily be considered an act of sexual harassment, but it usually takes more than one or even a few cases of inappropriate behavior to constitute a hostile work environment.
Proving Harassment
Jurors and courts often judge similar cases very differently, despite what seem to be fairly clear laws. The employee often must take steps before filing a sexual harassment claim, so it’s essential to contact an NYC sex harassment lawyer before you make any moves.
Many companies have policies and rules, which you might contractually agree to when hired, that require you to take steps within the structure of the company first. You may have to report the incidents to human resources, for example. As long as the organization can show that it made efforts to prevent or correct harassing behavior, it might avoid some liability.
Fortunately, a qualified and experienced lawyer at our firm can help you prove your case.
Case Considerations
The viability of a hostile work environment claim will be established by the frequency, context, and severity of the inappropriate behavior, your conduct in relation to the situation, the size and nature of the business, and whether a reasonable person would have found the work environment hostile.
Compensation for Sexual Harassment in NYC
Just like in any other personal injury case, compensation for sexual harassment can include economic and non-economic damages, but the damages in these cases can also be quite different. Below, we’ve broken down a few common damages in NYC sexual harassment cases.
Back Pay
Back pay reimburses you for lost income due to employment termination, denied raises or promotions, and other negative work actions related to sexual harassment.
Back pay may include the following:
- Wages
- Raises, bonuses, commissions, or tips
- Employment benefit values, including healthcare, retirement, and pensions
- Paid time off
- Profit sharing and stock options
Future Income
If you lose your job due to sex harassment in NYC, you might be eligible for reinstatement to your former position, but if this isn’t possible, you could be awarded compensation for future wage losses.
Considerations for awarding future pay include the following:
- Your age
- Time necessary to find a similar job with another employer
- Employee turnover rates at your former employer
Compensatory Damages
This category covers damages associated with pain and suffering, such as emotional distress and reputation damage, as well as actual expenses due to harassment (psychiatric therapy, medical treatment, costs for travel, and employment searches, among others).
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are only awarded when the harasser’s actions are egregious. For an employer, this might include ignoring the harassment or punishing you for following proper reporting procedures. These damages are specifically designed to punish the at-fault party in the hope of deterring others from acting in a similar fashion.
Call an NYC Sexual Harassment Attorney
To avoid putting your ability to recover compensation at risk, speak with an NYC sexual harassment lawyer before you take any other steps. The attorneys at Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP offer a free, no-obligation legal evaluation, which you can schedule by filling out the form below or calling us at 1-800-VICTIM2 (842-8462).