New York City Employment Discrimination Lawyer

If your employer has treated you unfairly because of who you are rather than how you perform, you have legal recourse. Employment discrimination based on race, sex, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or other protected characteristics violates New York law. And New York’s protections rank among the strongest anywhere.

Our New York City employment discrimination lawyer at The Bloom Firm represents employees across all types of workplace discrimination. We handle cases involving hiring bias, wrongful termination, promotion denials, harassment, hostile work environments, and retaliation. We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we win money for you. Contact us for a free consultation if discrimination has affected your job.

Why Choose The Bloom Firm for Employment Discrimination Cases in New York City?

We Handle the Full Spectrum of Discrimination Claims

Some firms specialize narrowly. We take a broader view because discrimination doesn’t always fit neatly into one category. Understanding how different forms of discrimination intersect, and how to pursue claims that capture the full scope of harm, requires attorneys who work across the entire field.

We’ve represented employees facing discrimination based on race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other protected characteristics. We’ve handled cases where the discrimination was blatant and cases where it operated through patterns so subtle our clients questioned their own perceptions before seeing the evidence laid out. Both types violate the law.

Lisa Bloom founded The Bloom Firm in 2010 specifically to represent victims of discrimination and civil rights violations. Her career has spanned high-profile cases against celebrities, corporations, and institutions that believed their power insulated them from accountability. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1986 and has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2015. Before starting the firm, she hosted a daily legal program on Court TV and continues appearing on CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC as a legal analyst.

Arick Fudali serves as Partner and Managing Attorney and holds licenses in New York, California, and Florida. His background includes prosecuting criminal cases in Broward County, Florida, experience that taught him how to build cases methodically and present them persuasively. He graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and has focused on employment discrimination since 2011. He appears regularly on CNN, Court TV, and News Nation discussing victims’ rights.

Our employment lawyer in New York City handles the full range of workplace violations, giving us perspective on how different claims fit together and how to maximize recovery for clients.

Results Across Case Types

Millions of dollars recovered for employees facing discrimination, harassment, and civil rights violations. We’ve won against corporations that deployed expensive legal teams and aggressive tactics designed to outlast plaintiffs. We’ve secured settlements and verdicts in cases other firms turned down as too difficult. When we take your case, we fight until you get what you’re owed.

The Contingency Model

Employment discrimination cases require resources. Discovery, depositions, expert witnesses, trial preparation. We advance these costs and collect nothing unless we win. You shouldn’t have to drain savings or go into debt to pursue justice against an employer who discriminated against you.

What Clients Say

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“The Bloom Firm gave me hope when I felt completely defeated. They saw what my employer was doing when others dismissed my concerns. The outcome changed my life.” — Brian Heit, Client

Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.

Types of Employment Discrimination Cases We Handle in New York City

New York law prohibits discrimination across an extensive list of protected characteristics. Our attorneys handle cases involving the following:

Race and national origin discrimination. You were passed over, disciplined more harshly, paid less, or treated differently because of your race, ethnicity, skin color, or where you’re from. Discrimination based on accent, name, or perceived immigration status also violates the law. We’ve handled cases involving overt racial hostility and cases where bias operated through seemingly neutral policies that disproportionately affected certain groups.
Sex and gender discrimination. Women paid less than men for equivalent work. Pregnancy used against employees in hiring or promotion decisions. Gender stereotypes shaping who gets opportunities and who doesn’t. Men penalized for taking parental leave. Sexual discrimination takes many forms, all of them illegal under New York law.
Sexual harassment. Unwanted advances, quid pro quo demands, hostile environments saturated with sexual comments or conduct. Harassment doesn’t require explicit propositions. Pervasive sexual banter, objectifying treatment, and creating conditions where employees feel unsafe or uncomfortable all violate the law when tied to sex or gender.
Age discrimination. Layoffs that disproportionately affect older workers. Job postings designed to screen out experienced candidates. Comments about being “overqualified” or needing “fresh perspectives.” Pressure to retire. Unlike federal law, New York City protects workers of all ages from age-based discrimination, not just those over forty.
Disability discrimination. Failure to provide reasonable accommodations. Termination after medical leave. Assumptions about what disabled employees can or cannot do. Harassment based on medical conditions or perceived limitations. Employers must engage in good faith discussions about accommodation rather than reflexively denying requests.
Religious discrimination. Denial of schedule accommodations for religious observance. Dress code enforcement targeting religious attire. Harassment or exclusion based on faith. Pressure to participate in religious activities that conflict with your beliefs or to hide your own religious practices.
LGBTQ discrimination. Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Deadnaming and misgendering of transgender employees. Hostile treatment after coming out. Adverse actions tied to who you love or how you present yourself. New York has prohibited this discrimination since 1986.
Hostile work environment. When harassment based on any protected characteristic becomes severe or pervasive enough to alter working conditions, it creates a hostile environment. Under NYC law, the standard is broader: you need only show you faced inferior conditions because of a protected characteristic.
Retaliation. You reported discrimination or participated in an investigation. Your employer responded by making your situation worse instead of addressing the problem. Retaliation claims often accompany underlying discrimination claims and sometimes produce larger damages because punishing employees for exercising legal rights is particularly egregious.

New York Legal Protections Against Employment Discrimination

New York provides layered protections that often exceed what federal law offers. Understanding these frameworks helps clarify why employers face real consequences for discrimination in this jurisdiction.

New York’s Strong Framework

The New York City Human Rights Law ranks among the most employee-friendly anti-discrimination statutes in the country. It covers employers with four or more employees and protects an extensive list of characteristics including race, color, national origin, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, marital status, partnership status, caregiver status, and many others.

Courts must interpret the city law liberally in favor of plaintiffs. The harassment standard is notably broader than federal law: rather than proving conduct was “severe or pervasive,” plaintiffs need only show they faced inferior terms, conditions, or privileges because of a protected characteristic. The NYC Commission on Human Rights enforces these protections.

The New York State Division of Human Rights enforces parallel state protections throughout New York. The state strengthened its Human Rights Law in 2019 with amendments extending filing deadlines and making discrimination claims easier to pursue. Both city and state law cover smaller employers than federal law reaches.

Federal Protections

Multiple federal statutes address employment discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and has been interpreted to include sexual orientation and gender identity since 2020. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers forty and older. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodation and prohibits disability discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces these federal laws.

The Department of Labor provides additional resources on workplace protections and enforces related statutes covering wage and hour issues, family leave, and federal contractor obligations.

Filing Deadlines

Three years for claims under New York City and State law. Federal claims generally require filing with the EEOC within 300 days. These deadlines matter enormously. Miss them and your claim may be permanently barred regardless of how strong your evidence is. Consulting an attorney promptly protects your options.

Important Aspects of a New York City Employment Discrimination Case

Discrimination cases require proving that protected characteristics motivated adverse employment decisions. Several elements consistently affect outcomes.

Identifying the Discrimination

Sometimes discrimination is obvious. More often, it operates through patterns that become clear only when you step back and examine the full picture. The candidate pool narrowed after interviews revealed certain characteristics. Performance standards shifted after you disclosed a disability. Opportunities dried up after you complained about harassment. Connecting these dots requires careful documentation and analysis.

Building Your Evidence

Start preserving evidence immediately. Save emails, texts, voicemails, and any communications showing discriminatory attitudes or documenting adverse treatment. Write down what happened while details remain fresh: dates, times, locations, who was involved, who witnessed it, exactly what was said. Keep performance reviews from before and after discrimination began. Many employees don’t realize how quickly evidence needs to be preserved to protect their claims.

Comparator Analysis

How does your employer treat similarly situated employees who don’t share your protected characteristic? If white colleagues get second chances you’re denied, if men receive flexibility women don’t, if younger workers get training older ones can’t access, those disparities support discrimination claims. Identifying appropriate comparators often provides the clearest evidence of discriminatory intent.

Reporting Discrimination

For some claims, particularly harassment by coworkers, your employer’s knowledge matters. Report through designated channels. Report in writing when possible. Keep copies of everything. Document responses and whether anything changes. If your employer ignores complaints or conducts perfunctory investigations, that failure strengthens your case.

Pretextual Justifications

Employers rarely admit to discrimination. They offer alternative explanations: performance issues, restructuring, skills gaps, personality conflicts, business necessity. Proving discrimination often means showing these justifications don’t hold up. Did performance concerns appear suddenly after years of strong reviews? Does the restructuring disproportionately affect members of one group? Are “skills gaps” in areas where you requested but were denied training? Exposing pretextual explanations is frequently central to discrimination cases.

Available Damages

Successful discrimination claims can produce back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and punitive damages in egregious cases. New York’s Human Rights Laws allow recovery of attorney’s fees from defendants, creating additional settlement pressure. What you recover depends on the nature and severity of discrimination, its duration, its career and personal impact, and the strength of evidence. Job discrimination claims involving multiple protected characteristics may support additional recovery.

Contact The Bloom Firm

Employment discrimination undermines careers, financial security, and dignity. New York law provides powerful remedies, and employers who discriminate face real consequences when employees fight back.

We provide free consultations to evaluate your situation. Our contingency structure means you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. There’s no financial risk in finding out where you stand.

Your job should depend on your qualifications and performance, not your identity. If your employer has discriminated against you based on who you are rather than how you work, contact The Bloom Firm today. We’re prepared to hold them accountable.

Types of Employment Discrimination Services We Offer

Workplace discrimination can affect many parts of a person’s job, from hiring to termination. Your New York City employment discrimination lawyer can look for patterns of treatment that may not be clear at first but become more apparent over time. The Bloom Firm is one of the largest victim’s rights law firms in the country. We work with employees to review the facts and determine whether their rights may have been violated. Take a look at the cases we handle, and contact us today to get started.

Race Discrimination: Unequal treatment based on race or ethnicity can appear in hiring, pay, promotions, or discipline. These cases often involve patterns that show one group is treated differently than others.

Gender Discrimination: Employees may face unfair treatment based on gender, including differences in pay, job opportunities, or workplace expectations. Your New York employment discrimination lawyer will look at the policies and actions that affected you.

Age Discrimination: Workers over a certain age may be passed over for promotions or pushed out of roles. As your job discrimination attorney can explain, these claims often focus on whether age played a part in employment decisions.

Disability Discrimination: Individuals with disabilities have rights to fair treatment and reasonable accommodations. When employers fail to meet these obligations, it may lead to a claim.

Religious Discrimination: Employees should not be treated unfairly because of their beliefs or practices. Issues may arise when employers refuse reasonable accommodations or treat workers differently due to religion.

National Origin Discrimination: Treatment based on a person’s background, accent, or place of origin can be unlawful. These cases may involve hiring decisions, workplace comments, or job assignments, so make sure you communicate the details with your discrimination lawsuit attorney.

Pregnancy Discrimination: Employees who are pregnant may face reduced hours, job loss, or changes in duties. These actions may violate the law if they are tied to the pregnancy.

Retaliation For Reporting Discrimination: Reporting discrimination should not lead to negative job actions. If someone is disciplined or terminated after making a complaint, it may point to retaliation.

Unequal Pay Claims: Pay differences for similar work can form the basis of a claim. Your labor discrimination attorney can help you review job duties, performance, and employer practices to assess whether your pay is fair.

Failure To Provide Accommodations: Some employees request changes to their work environment due to disability, religion, or other protected reasons. Denying these requests without a valid reason may lead to a claim.

Harassment Based On Protected Traits: Repeated comments or conduct tied to a protected trait can create a hostile work environment. These claims focus on how behavior affects the employee’s ability to do their job.

Contact Us Today

At The Bloom Firm, we’ve spent decades fine-tuning our approach to these matters. We review what happened, explain your options, and help you decide how to move forward. If you believe you have been treated unfairly at work, we’re ready to help. Reach out to our team to discuss your situation with a New York City employment discrimination lawyer you can trust.