The Roots of Fair Employment Law

New York State’s extensive anti-discrimination Human Rights Law did not spring intact from the minds of New York’s legislators. Instead, it built on existing federal and state laws to become one of the most inclusive, protective anti-discrimination laws in the nation.

In 1945, New York’s Ives-Quinn Act — the Law Against Discrimination — became law, making New York the first state to enact legislation curtailing discrimination against job applicants and employees based on race, religion or creed. The New York legislation developed from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Practices Commission, which enforced executive order 8802. That order, resulting in part from the urging and activism of famous labor leader A. Philip Randolph, stated that “there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” The Ives-Quinn Act inspired Branch Rickey, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to sign Jackie Robinson, changing the course of baseball history.
Over the next sixty-plus years, the Law Against Discrimination evolved into the Human Rights Law we know today. Successive movements added the following to the categories protected against employment discrimination in New York State:

• Sexual harassment
• Military status
• Disability
• Pregnancy
• Sexual orientation
• National origin
• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Religious
• Compensation/ Equal Pay

The same law also protects against discrimination in the housing or real estate market, as well as requiring reasonable accommodations for handicapped individuals in public places and workplaces. The law also now provides for compensatory and punitive damages for individuals victimized by discrimination, and New York State has a wealth of seasoned employment discrimination lawyers available to represent victims of discrimination.

Our New York City employment discrimination attorneys serve clients in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island and throughout the state of New York. We also represent employee discrimination cases in New Jersey, Pennsylvania & Florida Free Consultation and NO FEE unless we recover for you. Contact us today for more information 877-469-5297.