New York Employment Lawyer Blog

New York's employment laws are tough. Fairness is not a factor. An employee can be fired at any time for any reason. But employees have the same freedom. They can quit whenever they want for any reason. But people are often shocked that they can be fired for no reason.

At The Ottinger Firm, we represent employees in employment matters. People call every day complaining about unfair dismissals. There is usually nothing we can do to help because an employer is free to dismiss an employee. There are just a few restrictions on what an employer can do.

An employer cannot fire an employee for a discriminatory reason. An employer in New York cannot fire someone because of their age, race, gender, religion or sexual preference. So if an employer decides that it wants to have a younger work force and starts to dismiss its older workers, that employer would be violating the law and an older worker who was fired could sue the employer. Likewise, if a company did not want women in senior management positions and it only promoted men to high levels, that employer could be sued by the women who were denied promotions on account of their gender.

The above are just a few examples to demonstrate that employers are generally free to dismiss an employee for any reason. The only real restrictions on this right are the laws that prohibit employment discrimination. The Ottinger Firm represents employees who have been fired for illegal reasons.