New York City residents are well aware of the current state of the national and local economy, and the difficulty of locating work when being unemployed for an extended period of time. With so many forms of employment discrimination, including, but not limited to, race discrimination, gender discrimination, religious discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination, a novel and disturbing form of employment discrimination is rearing its ugly head, discrimination based on employment status. This new form of discrimination is running rampant. Residents of New York City are not in control of their employment status and they certainly should not be denied new employment because of their current employment status.
Fortunately, New York City politicians are making a concerted effort in putting forward new legislation which would make it against the law to discriminate based on employment status.
When asked about this matter, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn reported to Channel 2 CBS News that this behavior was “shocking.”
Councilwoman Quinn further stated that the New York City Council is poised to pass a bill to make it illegal for an employer to use someone’s employment status against them in a job application.
“We’re gonna say, Employers, you cannot discriminate against the unemployed,” she said. “How are we ever going to get unemployment numbers down if we allow companies to continue to say only people with jobs can get jobs?”
Hats off to the New York City Council for taking a proactive approach in combating this new form of employment discrimination. We applaud them for fighting the “good fight” and we pledge to do the same in protecting employees from all forms of employment discrimination.
If you believe you or your family member was and/or has been discriminated against in the workplace, please do not hesitate to contact The Law Office of Risman & Risman, P.C. at (212) 233-6400 or contact us online.