Changes made to New York State labor law due to social media, gender Essay

Changes made to New York State labor law due to social media, gender expression, and bullying - Essay Example Under the federal law of New York State, discrimination may occur when a person is treated differently in a manner that causes an adverse impact to an employee based on his age, gender, disability, sexual orientation amongst other forms of discrimination. New York State Labor Law on Social Media Social media affects most aspects of individuals including employees, and therefore, employers must be able to familiarize themselves with the legal ramifications or implications of their use by the employees. New York introduced legislation in 2012 that prohibited employers from delving into the social media account of would-be applicants for the employment opportunities in their firms or employees through the soliciting of social media accounts or requiring them to log into their accounts. New York State labor laws also protect employees from any disciplinary action or their employment from termination on account of activities done in the social media when they are off-duty. It is important to note that the labor law concerning labor law in New York is written in broad terms to prohibit the employers from discriminating against employees or job applicants for their lawful engagement in social media during non-working hours and outside the premises of the employer, though the engagement in social media may seem contrary to the employer’s interests, practices and policies. The New York Labor Law Section 201-d (2) (c) prohibits the discrimination of an employee for his participation in legal recreational activities outside the working hours and the recreational activities are defined as any lawful activity done at the leisure time for which an employee is not compensated but the employee only engages in it for recreational purposes.1 This section however has not adequately addressed whether social networking can be grouped as a recreational activity, and therefore an employee who engages in an activity that goes contrary to the business interest of the company wil l only be prosecuted by the courts on a case-by-case basis.2 New York State Labor Law on Gender Expression New York has enacted different legislation that protects employees who may suffer from the decisions of their employers due to discrimination based on gender. The labor laws of this state prohibits any employer from having considerations based on your gender at the time of hiring, promoting, transferring, setting wages or hours of work, or when firing any employee from duty. The prohibition against discrimination based on gender is enshrined in Title VII which is a federal law in New York State. This also covers sex discrimination against female employees that may arise from practices or policies that affect the female employees in a negative manner because of pregnancy, child birth and other medical conditions that usually affect females only. The New York State Human Rights Law also expressly prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy,3 and the Equal Pay Act is a federal law of New York State that requires that employers remunerate men and women equal pay for equal work done within the same or similar establishment.4 Two job descriptions can be deemed to be similar or the same if and when each job requires the same skills and