Working Parents: You Have Rights

Arranging for childcare has never been more complicated than during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to childcare facilities closing down and schools switching back and forth between remote and in-person learning, the pandemic has forced many working parents to face “the difficult decision [of] whether to send their vaccinated and/or below-vaccination age children to childcare in order to continue being employed.” See Tarantul v. New York City Health and Hosp., 159425/2020 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Jan. 18, 2022).

Fortunately, if you are a working parent employed in New York City, it is illegal for your employer to discriminate against you because you are responsible for a minor child or other member of your household. As recently reaffirmed by the New York Supreme Court in Tarantul v. New York City Health and Hosp., the law also requires employers to reasonably accommodate caregivers in certain circumstances.

The plaintiff in Tarantul is a working mother who lost childcare for her three young children as a result of the pandemic. When she asked her employer if she could work from home in order to care for her children, her employer refused and she was ultimately terminated from her position. In denying her employer’s motion to dismiss the case, the Court relied on official guidance from the New York City Commission on Human Rights providing that “employers CANNOT … deny [accommodations] to employees with caregiving responsibilities if they provide these benefits to other employees.”

If your employer has taken adverse action against you because you are the caregiver to a minor child or other person in your household, contact MSR for a consultation.