In a recent decision, the NY Court of Appeals (the highest state court in NY), expanded the geographic reach of NYS and NYC Human Rights Laws by allowing an employee — who never lived or worked in NYS or NYC — to bring claims for harms allegedly suffered elsewhere under NYS and NYC law.
In this case, the plaintiff lived and worked remotely from Washington D.C. for a company based in New York City. She applied for and was denied a promotion. She planned to move to New York if she had gotten the promotion. She sued claiming that race and sex factored into the company’s decision to deny the promotion.
The Court ruled that the plaintiff was protected by NYS and NYC Human Rights laws because even though she was a nonresident and worked in D.C., she was denied a job opportunity in New York City or State and therefore “personally [felt] the impact of a discriminatory refusal to promote or hire in New York City or State, because that is where the person wished to work (and perhaps relocate) and where they were denied the chance to do so.”
Notably, the Court limited its decision to “a position that requires the employee to be physically present in New York.” Therefore, it is unlikely that a nonresident applying for a remote position with a NYS/NYC company could avail themselves of NYS/NYC anti-discrimination law.
Particularly given the greater protections, potential damages recoverable, and attorneys’ fees recoverable under New York State and City laws, however, this decision should serve as a reminder to all NYS/NYC employers to review job application processes and procedures, ensure they are free of bias, and to timely document legitimate, non-discriminatory business reasons for hiring and promotion decisions.