Today, the New York Post reported a story where the New York City’s Human Rights Commission spent three years pursuing a Greenwich Village restaurant for placing an ad for waitresses instead of gender-neutral servers — and is now bizarrely considering whether it should collect the $5,000 fine imposed by a the administrative law judge assigned to the matter.
This all started when the ad was placed on Craigslist for a waitress, a term which is not gender-neutral, instead of a server.
Under the New York City Human Rights law, staffing ads may not specify one sex or the other; this is considered an inherently discriminatory act.
The Human Rights Commission spent a lot of time investigating the matter; setting up a sting operation to demonstrate that the restaurant was openly discriminating based on gender. Despite all of these efforts, they have yet to collect on the $5,000 fine imposed by the judge.
I have previously spoken to the pros and cons of filing a discrimination complaint via the City, State and Federal agencies. With that being said, we always recommend that you contact an attorney prior to reaching out to one of the agencies in order to best evaluate the options in pursuing your discrimination claim.
As always, 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 employment discrimination attorneys at Risman & Risman, P.C. at (212) 233-6400 or contact us online.