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If you are a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace in New York, you have clear legal rights. Both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State Human Rights Law (SHRL) prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace, and victims of sexual harassment can—and should—take legal action to hold their employers accountable. To take legal action, you will need proof of the sexual harassment that you have experienced on the job.
In a recent article, we discussed steps employees can take to document discrimination in the workplace. While documenting the discrimination you have experienced is critical (along with taking other steps to protect your legal rights), there are also several mistakes you need to be careful to avoid. Making these mistakes could make it more difficult to assert your legal rights effectively, and, in some cases, they could jeopardize your ability to take legal action altogether.
As we recently discussed, when President Trump took office earlier this year, one of his first actions was to sign an executive order that revived “Schedule F,” which is now called “Schedule Policy/Career.” While we noted in our prior article that the executive order was being challenged in court, President Trump is now moving ahead with efforts to implement Schedule F (or Schedule Policy/Career) in the federal workforce. As the Associated Press (AP) reported on April 18, 2025: “President Donald Trump has begun making one of the controversial personnel changes for government employees that was spelled out in the conservative Project 2025 blueprint for his second term. “He’s starting the process of reclassifying 50,000 federal employees under what’s known as Schedule F, which can make civil servants into political appointees or other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs.
Most federal employees fall into one of two categories—they work in either: (i) competitive service, or (ii) excepted service. This distinction has important implications for federal employees’ and job applicants’ legal rights; and, as a result, it is important to know into which category your job (or your desired job) falls. Competitive Service Positions in the Federal Government Competitive service positions are those for which applicants must go through a competitive application process.
In New York, employees who have disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations under state and federal law. While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) only covers employers with 15 or more employees, the New York State Human Rights Law covers employers regardless of size. Both of these laws include similar protections—and they both allow employees to hold their employers accountable when they fail (or refuse) to meet their legal obligations.
State and federal laws prohibit most employers in New York from discriminating against their employees based on their employees’ religious beliefs. Along with avoiding discriminatory acts (i.e., firing or refusing to promote an employee based on the employee’s religion), employers must also provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees who request them. As the U.S.