What Qualifies for a Job Harassment Lawsuit in New York?
Knowing what behaviors can be considered harassment in New York is important in establishing and maintaining a work environment where all employees feel safe. Managers and employers should have the capability to tell illegal harassment from inappropriate (but not unlawful) behavior in order to take the appropriate disciplinary actions quickly without having to go through any other responses that do not fit the offense.
Law is defined as undesirable physical or verbal conduct that creates a hostile work environment. When the behavior is directed at a legally protected characteristic, such as gender, age, race, religion or sexual orientation, and adversely affects the normal operations of an employees work and workplace, it can be considered New York harassment. Harassment can describe a wide range of behaviors from abusive language intended to force someone to quit to actual physical violence.
Anyone working in New York can be the target of harassment: male or female, young or old, blue-collar or white-collar, absolutely anyone. The same can be said of the identity of the offender: He or she could be a boss, supervisor, co-employee, vendor, or even a visitor. If seeing someone else being harassed makes you feel your workplace is hostile, you can be considered a victim even though you are not the direct target of the behavior.
Not All Offensive Workplace Behavior Is Job Harassment
For a behavior to be considered harassment it has to:
• Be unwelcome
• Be directed at a protected characteristic or class (such as gender or religion)
• Adversely affect employees’ work performance
• Create a hostile work environment
Minor teasing, isolated incidents or even prejudices that do not affect an employees status are not considered harassment as defined by law. Improper actions and behaviors that are not subject to legal action should be addressed by the companies policies on inappropriate behavior. On top of the protection harassment laws afford workers, just and fair company policies that are strictly implemented give employees an increased feeling of safety and security.
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