Long Island Employment Law Blog
Retaliation takes many forms in Long Island’s workplaces. Employees can face demotions, terminations, reductions in pay, or employers will refuse to promote employees as retaliation for employees complaining about discrimination or for engaging in other protected activity. Famighetti & Weinick PLLC are employment lawyers on Long Island, New York who can assess cases of workplace retaliation.
Retaliation in Suffolk and Nassau Counties Long Island
Retaliation can and does take place in Long Island’s workplaces. Only certain activities, however, can trigger protections against workplace retaliation on Long Island. The federal anti-discrimination statutes provide protections. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees who complain about or oppose discrimination. It further protects employees who participate in EEOC discrimination investigations or testify in discrimination lawsuits. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all have similar protections for employees who exercise rights under the statutes.
Like its federal counterpart, the New York State Human Rights Law also prohibits retaliation in Long Island workplaces for employees who exercise rights under the Human Rights Law.
The anti-retaliation provisions of the discrimination laws prohibit employees from taking adverse employment actions against employees in New York. Adverse employment actions are any actions which may dissuade a reasonable employee from exercising their rights under the laws. Actions may include demotions, reductions in pay, termination, or any other action which may disadvantage an employee at work or hinder the employee’s opportunity to advance at work.
Whistleblower Protection on Long Island
New York’s Labor Law Section 740 is known as New York’s Whistleblower law. It prohibits employers from retaliating against New York employees who disclose or threaten to disclose a workplace activity or policy which violates a law or regulation and which creates a substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety or which is health care fraud. The Whisteblower law also protects employees who refuse to participate in any such conduct. The New York Whistleblower law protects only very specific conduct, so employees who believe they may have a whistleblower lawsuit should contact an employment lawyer to discuss the matter.
First Amendment Retaliation on Long Island
The First Amendment prohibits the government and government officials from retaliating against citizens on Long Island who exercise rights granted under the First Amendment. It applies to public employees, such as employees who work for Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Town of Hempstead, the Town of North Hempstead, the Town of Oyster Bay, the Town of Smithtown, the Town of Huntington, the Town of Brookhaven, the Town of Islip, the Town of Babylon, the Town of Southampton, or the Town of Riverhead. It also applies to employees of cities and villages such as Long Beach, Hempstead, Glen Cove, and Freeport. School teachers, principals, and other school district employees are also protected by the First Amendment. First Amendment rights include free speech, religious freedoms, political association freedoms, and the freedom to associate with family and to protest the government.
The First Amendment not only protects public employees, but it protects all of Long Island’s citizens. The government cannot retaliate against citizens who express their political views, grieve the government, or exercise religious freedoms.
Long Island Retaliation Lawyers Famighetti & Weinick
Famighetti & Weinick PLLC are employment lawyers on Long Island who represent New York employees in retaliation lawsuits. Famighetti & Weinick PLLC also represent citizens of Nassau and Suffolk counties in First Amendment retaliation lawsuits. The retaliation laws can be complicated. For more information about retaliation laws and retaliation lawsuits, call a Long Island employment lawyer at Famighetti & Weinick PLLC at 631-352-0050. We also have more information about retaliation lawsuits our website at https://www.linycemploymentlaw.com.