Brooklyn Employment Law Attorneys

New York Labor Law § 196-d generally prohibits employers and managers from taking any portion of a tipped employee's tips. Mandatory tip pools can be legal if they include only employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, but they cannot include owners or anyone with managerial authority (such as scheduling, hiring, or firing). Service charges that look like tips must be disclosed clearly or they belong to the workers. We typically request pay stubs, tip-out sheets, and POS exports to reconstruct what was withheld. Damages can include the withheld tips, liquidated damages, interest, and attorney's fees.

Both the NYC Human Rights Law and the NYS Human Rights Law require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and disability, and they prohibit retaliation for requesting accommodations. The NYCHRL is interpreted more broadly than federal or state law, meaning Brooklyn workers often have a stronger claim than the ADA alone would provide. Termination, demotion, or significant schedule changes shortly after an accommodation request can support a retaliation or discrimination claim. Time and documentation matter here. Keep texts and emails that show the request and the employer's response.

All three are options for most discrimination claims. The NYCHRL (filed at the NYC Commission on Human Rights or in court) typically offers the broadest substantive protections for Brooklyn workers. The NYSHRL (filed at NYSDHR or in court) and federal law (EEOC) are also available. Filing at one agency generally cross-files with the others, but the procedural rules, deadlines, and remedies differ. If you might want to litigate in court rather than have the agency adjudicate, you should know that filing at NYSDHR usually waives the right to sue in court on the same claim while the case is pending.

Misclassification is widespread on construction sites, in delivery work, in salons, and in some creative roles. The legal test focuses on the employer's right to control the work, not on what the contract says. If the company sets your schedule, supervises how you do the job, supplies tools or materials, and pays you regularly for ongoing work, you may legally be an employee regardless of the paperwork. Misclassification can give rise to unpaid overtime, unreimbursed expenses, missing wage notices and statements, and workers' compensation exposure for the employer.

It depends on the law. Federal EEOC charges (Title VII, ADA, ADEA) must be filed within 300 days. NYSHRL administrative complaints at NYSDHR generally must be filed within one year (three years for sexual harassment). NYSHRL claims filed directly in court have a three-year window. NYCHRL claims have a three-year court statute of limitations (one year at the NYC Commission, three for gender-based harassment). New York Labor Law wage claims generally have a six-year look-back. The earliest deadline controls, so do not assume the longest statute applies to your situation.

Yes, you likely have multiple overlapping claims. Labor Law § 740, as expanded in 2022, protects employees who reasonably believe their employer is engaged in illegal activity or conduct that poses a substantial danger to public health or safety. Patient-safety reporting is squarely within the statute. Healthcare-specific protections under Labor Law § 741 also apply to nurses and certain other healthcare workers. Both laws allow for reinstatement, back pay, civil penalties, and attorney's fees, and they apply even if the conduct you reported turned out not to be illegal, so long as your belief was reasonable.

Under New York Labor Law § 198(1-a), an employee who proves unpaid wages can recover the unpaid amount, liquidated damages equal to 100% of the unpaid wages, prejudgment interest, and reasonable attorney's fees. If the employer also failed to provide a proper wage notice under Labor Law § 195(1) or wage statements under § 195(3), additional statutory damages may apply per the WTPA. The look-back period is generally six years under state law and three years under federal FLSA (extended to six for willful violations only in some computations). We typically run both state and federal computations to see which yields more.

New York courts enforce non-competes only when they are reasonable in scope and necessary to protect a legitimate business interest. For most rank-and-file employees, especially in hospitality and retail, restrictions on working anywhere in Brooklyn or NYC are unlikely to be enforceable. For professionals with trade secrets or specialized client relationships, courts are more receptive, but they still narrow overbroad terms. New York courts also generally disfavor non-competes against employees terminated without cause. If your former employer is threatening litigation, we can usually assess enforceability quickly from the agreement and your role.