EMPLOYMENT LAW
Standing up for workers’ rights.
We support workers who earn low wages in asserting their rights to unpaid wages and equality at work.
For workers earning low incomes, abuse of employment rights can be disastrous, creating a crisis that has ripple effects throughout their lives. They are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because they lack a safety net. Wage theft or job loss can quickly lead to debt, food insecurity, or loss of housing. All too often, workers do not come forward for fear of retaliation, or because they are not sure where to go for help.
900
workers defended by NYLAG in cases challenging discrimination and illegal retaliation last year
Services
Our lawyers represent workers facing wage theft, discrimination, retaliation, and other unfair treatment by their employers. NYLAG’s lawyers can help in the following ways:
- Representing workers with employment discrimination based on race, gender, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and other protected classes
- Helping workers combat sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace
- Protecting workers’ rights to take Family Medical Leave, Paid Family Leave, and Paid Sick Leave
- Negotiating with employers to provide reasonable accommodations based on disability, pregnancy, and religion
- Representing workers who have been retaliated against for asserting their rights on the job
- Recovering unpaid wages
- Contesting unfair denial of unemployment insurance benefits
Need free legal services or financial counseling?
Help us provide free legal services to workers.
NYLAG is part of the solution to combating workplace abuse and exploitation.
Justicia Lab and New York Legal Assistance Group launch new chatbot Reclamo AI to help New Yorkers understand and address wage theft
Today Justicia Lab, Pro Bono Net’s nonprofit innovation incubator for technology solutions supporting the worker and immigrant rights movement, along with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) announced the launch of Reclamo AI. The tool is a multilingual, mobile-first digital assistant that helps low-wage and immigrant workers to prevent, assess and document workplace violations in New York State.
Documented: Supers In NYC Are Underpaid. Is This New York Law To Blame?
NYLAG Employment Law Project Director Mel González spoke with Documented about our lawsuit against property owners violating immigrant supers’ rights.
Documented: Documented and NYLAG Dispel Misinformation for Immigrants
Mel González, Project Director for the Employment Law Project at NYLAG, joined Documented for a question-and-answer session with recently arrived immigrants to offer crucial legal insight on their workers’ rights and protections in New York State.