Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under three overlapping legal frameworks in New York: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (federal), the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL), and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). Each framework sets a different legal standard, and understanding the differences matters enormously when evaluating a claim.

Under Title VII, sexual harassment is unlawful when it is severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, or when it takes the form of quid pro quo harassment. The severe or pervasive standard has historically been a high bar — isolated incidents, unless extreme, often do not meet it under federal law.

New York State law moved significantly beyond the federal standard in 2019. The amended NYSHRL eliminated the severe or pervasive requirement for harassment claims. Under current state law, harassment is unlawful when it subjects an employee to inferior terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of their sex. A single incident can be sufficient. The only conduct that falls outside the law is behavior that a reasonable person with the same protected characteristic would consider no more than a petty slight or trivial inconvenience — and even that narrow exception is interpreted strictly in favor of employees.

The New York City Human Rights Law goes furthest of all. Under the NYCHRL, harassment is unlawful whenever it is more than a petty slight or trivial inconvenience. There is no requirement that the conduct be severe, pervasive, or objectively hostile. The NYCHRL is explicitly interpreted more broadly than both federal and state law, and courts are required to construe it liberally in favor of the employee. A single offensive comment, a pattern of demeaning remarks, or conduct that would not rise to the level of a federal hostile work environment claim can all be actionable under the NYCHRL.

Quid pro quo harassment — Latin for something for something — occurs when a supervisor conditions a job benefit on submission to sexual conduct. The harasser must be someone who is empowered to affect, and does affect, the employee's conditions of employment. A coworker cannot commit quid pro quo harassment in the legal sense because a coworker has no authority to deliver or withhold job benefits. The link between the sexual demand and the employment consequence is what defines the claim.

A critical and frequently misunderstood principle: submission to sexual advances can be "voluntary" in the sense that the employee was not physically forced, while still being entirely "unwelcome" in the legal sense. An employee who submits to a supervisor's demands to avoid losing their job has not consented. Courts recognize the submission theory of quid pro quo harassment precisely for this situation — the employee goes along with the conduct not because they want to, but because the power imbalance leaves them feeling they have no real choice. Going along with it does not mean you have no case.

A quid pro quo claim requires a tangible employment action — a significant change in employment status such as termination, demotion, failure to promote, reassignment to a materially different position, or a significant change in benefits. Courts also examine the timing between the sexual advance and the adverse employment action: a short gap between a rejection and a demotion or termination is powerful circumstantial evidence of a causal connection.

Hostile work environment harassment is the second major category. To be actionable under federal law and the New York State Human Rights Law, the conduct must satisfy five elements: it must be (1) severe or pervasive; (2) objectively hostile — meaning a reasonable person would find it hostile; (3) subjectively hostile — meaning the plaintiff actually found it hostile; (4) because of sex; and (5) sexual in nature or gender-based. A single incident can be sufficient — courts have held that a single act of direct contact with an intimate body part may establish a hostile work environment claim on its own.

The New York City Human Rights Law eliminates the severity-or-pervasiveness requirement entirely: harassment is unlawful whenever it is more than a petty slight or trivial inconvenience. This is a significantly lower bar than federal law, and one of the most important reasons why New York City employees often have stronger claims than employees elsewhere. Common forms of hostile work environment harassment include: unwanted physical contact; repeated sexual comments or jokes; displaying sexually explicit materials; persistent unwanted advances; and demeaning remarks about an employee's body, appearance, or gender.

Employer liability for hostile work environment harassment depends on who committed it. If a supervisor committed the harassment and it resulted in a tangible employment action, the employer is strictly liable — no defense is available. If the supervisor's harassment did not result in a tangible employment action, the employer can raise the Faragher-Ellerth affirmative defense: it must show that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct the harassment, and that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of the preventive or corrective opportunities provided. If the harasser was a coworker, the employer is liable only if it knew or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt corrective action.

All employees in New York are protected from sexual harassment regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The law protects men harassed by women, men harassed by men, women harassed by women, and nonbinary employees harassed by anyone. The harasser and the victim do not need to be of different genders.

Coverage under each law depends on employer size. The NYSHRL covers all employers for sexual harassment claims — there is no minimum employee threshold for this specific type of claim, a deliberate legislative choice made in 2019. The NYCHRL covers employers with four or more employees. Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees. For most New York employees, the NYSHRL and NYCHRL provide broader coverage than federal law.

Protection extends well beyond traditional full-time employees. Part-time workers, temporary employees, seasonal workers, independent contractors, domestic workers, home care aides, and unpaid interns are all protected under New York law. Immigration status is not a barrier to protection. If you perform work for an employer in New York, you are almost certainly covered by at least one of these laws regardless of how your employment relationship is classified.

The harasser does not need to be a supervisor or someone with authority over the victim. Sexual harassment can be committed by a direct supervisor, a manager in a different department, a coworker at the same level, a subordinate, a client or customer, a vendor or contractor, or an owner or executive of the company. The identity of the harasser affects the legal analysis of employer liability, but it does not determine whether harassment occurred.

Under the NYCHRL, an employer is strictly liable for harassment by supervisors and managers — meaning the employer is responsible regardless of whether it knew about the harassment. For harassment by non-supervisory coworkers or third parties, the employer is liable if it knew or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt corrective action. Under the NYSHRL and Title VII, the analysis is similar: supervisor harassment triggers strict liability in quid pro quo cases, while hostile work environment claims require the employer to have known or had reason to know about the conduct.

Third-party harassment — harassment by clients, customers, or vendors — is a frequently overlooked category. If a client repeatedly makes sexual comments to an employee and the employer does nothing after being informed, the employer can be held liable. Employers have an obligation to protect employees from harassment by people outside the company, not just from internal misconduct.

New York employers are required by law to adopt a written sexual harassment prevention policy that meets or exceeds the state model policy. The policy must: prohibit sexual harassment; provide examples of prohibited conduct; explain the applicable legal standards and remedies; include a complaint procedure with multiple reporting options; prohibit retaliation against employees who report harassment or participate in investigations; and explain employees' rights and the available forums for filing complaints.

Annual anti-harassment training is mandatory for all New York employers, regardless of size. The training must be interactive, cover the definition of sexual harassment, explain the complaint procedure, and address bystander intervention. Employers must provide the training to all employees — including supervisors, managers, and executives — and must keep records of completion. Failure to provide required training does not by itself create liability, but it is evidence of an employer's failure to take harassment prevention seriously.

When an employee reports harassment, the employer is required to investigate promptly and take corrective action proportionate to the severity of the conduct. The investigation must be conducted in good faith, must be reasonably thorough, and must result in a genuine assessment of what occurred. An employer that conducts a sham investigation, fails to interview key witnesses, or takes no meaningful action after substantiating a complaint has not met its legal obligations. Under the NYCHRL, an employer's failure to investigate can itself be evidence of discriminatory intent.

Employers are also prohibited from requiring employees to sign non-disclosure agreements as a condition of employment or continued employment. Since 2018, New York law has required that any confidentiality provision in a harassment settlement be the preference of the complaining employee — not the employer's demand. Mandatory arbitration clauses for sexual harassment claims are unenforceable under both New York law and the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2022.

Document everything as it happens. Write down the date, time, location, what was said or done, who was present, and how you responded. Do this contemporaneously — notes written the same day carry far more weight than recollections written months later. Save any texts, emails, voicemails, or other communications that relate to the harassment. If the harassment is occurring in a physical space, note any witnesses who may have observed it.

Report the harassment through your employer's internal complaint procedure. This is important for two reasons: it triggers your employer's legal obligation to investigate and act, and it forecloses the employer's affirmative defense in any subsequent litigation. Report in writing — email is fine — so there is a record of when you reported and what you said. Keep copies of everything you submit and everything you receive in response.

If your employer fails to act, retaliates against you for reporting, or if the harasser is the person you would normally report to, you can file a complaint with an external agency. In New York City, you can file with the NYC Commission on Human Rights. Statewide, you can file with the New York State Division of Human Rights. For federal claims, you file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. You can also file a lawsuit directly in state or federal court, depending on which law you are asserting.

Consult an employment attorney before you file anything externally. The agency you choose, the claims you assert, and the order in which you proceed all have strategic consequences. Filing with one agency can affect your ability to pursue claims in another forum. An attorney can help you understand the full landscape of your options and make choices that preserve — rather than inadvertently limit — your rights.

Under the NYCHRL, you have three years from the last act of harassment to file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights or a lawsuit in court. Under the NYSHRL, you have three years to file a civil lawsuit in state court. To file an administrative complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights, you have one year from the discriminatory act. Under Title VII, you have 300 days from the discriminatory act to file a charge with the EEOC — after which you must receive a right-to-sue letter before filing in federal court.

For ongoing harassment — a pattern of conduct rather than a single incident — the clock typically runs from the last act in the pattern. This continuing violation doctrine can preserve claims that would otherwise be time-barred if the harassment is part of a connected course of conduct. However, discrete acts that are clearly separated in time may be treated individually, with each carrying its own deadline.

Do not wait. Even when you have three years, delay works against you. Evidence disappears. Witnesses leave the company and become harder to locate. Electronic records are deleted in routine data purges. And the longer you wait, the more the employer's lawyers will argue that your delay shows the conduct was not serious enough to act on promptly. The best time to consult an attorney is as soon as you believe something illegal has happened.

The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFAA), 9 U.S.C. § 401, fundamentally changed the landscape for sexual harassment claims. Before the EFAA, employers routinely required employees to sign predispute arbitration agreements as a condition of employment — agreements that forced harassment claims into private arbitration and away from public courts. The EFAA ended that practice for sexual harassment and sexual assault disputes.

Under 9 U.S.C. § 402(a), no predispute arbitration agreement and no predispute joint-action waiver is valid or enforceable with respect to a case filed under federal, tribal, or state law that relates to a sexual harassment dispute or a sexual assault dispute. The election belongs to the person alleging the conduct. If you have a sexual harassment claim, you can choose to bring it in court even if you signed an arbitration agreement before the dispute arose — the employer cannot force you into arbitration.

The EFAA's coverage is broad. "Sexual harassment dispute" means any dispute relating to conduct alleged to constitute sexual harassment under applicable federal, tribal, or state law. The Second Circuit has extended this to cover retaliation claims arising from a report of sexual harassment — meaning your retaliation claim is also protected from forced arbitration. Puris v. TikTok Inc., 2025 WL 343905 (S.D.N.Y. 2025). New York law independently bars mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims and restricts nondisclosure agreements in harassment settlements. If your employer points to an arbitration clause, consult an attorney before agreeing to arbitrate any harassment claim.

Retaliation against an employee who reports sexual harassment, files a complaint, or participates in an investigation is independently unlawful under all three legal frameworks. Retaliation can take many forms: termination, demotion, reduction in hours or pay, negative performance reviews, exclusion from meetings or opportunities, increased scrutiny, hostile treatment, or any other action that would dissuade a reasonable employee from reporting harassment.

Retaliation claims are often stronger than the underlying harassment claim, particularly when the employer's response to a complaint is swift and punitive. If you reported harassment and your employment situation deteriorated immediately afterward, that sequence of events is itself powerful evidence. Document any changes in your treatment, your assignments, your performance reviews, or your relationship with management that occur after you report.

If your harassment claim succeeds, you may be entitled to back pay for lost wages and benefits, front pay for future lost earnings, compensatory damages for emotional distress and other non-economic harm, punitive damages in cases of egregious or willful conduct, and attorney's fees and costs. Under the NYCHRL, there is no cap on compensatory or punitive damages. Under the amended NYSHRL, punitive damages are available against private employers. Under Title VII, compensatory and punitive damages are capped based on employer size, ranging from $50,000 for employers with 15–100 employees to $300,000 for employers with more than 500 employees.

Injunctive relief — a court order requiring the employer to change its policies, conduct training, or take other corrective action — is also available. In cases involving ongoing harassment or systemic problems, injunctive relief can be as important as monetary damages. Many cases resolve through negotiated settlements before trial, which can include monetary compensation, changes to employment records, and other terms tailored to the employee's specific situation.

Workplace discrimination occurs when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee — firing, demoting, failing to hire or promote, reducing pay, changing job duties — because of a protected characteristic. It also includes harassment based on a protected characteristic that creates a hostile work environment.

Discrimination can be direct — a supervisor who says 'we don't promote women here' — or indirect, where a facially neutral policy has a disparate impact on a protected group. Both forms are unlawful under New York and federal law.

The New York City Human Rights Law protects against discrimination based on: age, race, creed, color, national origin, gender (including gender identity and expression), disability, marital status, partnership status, sexual orientation, alienage or citizenship status, pregnancy, arrest or conviction record, caregiver status, consumer credit history, salary history, status as a victim of domestic violence, and more.

The NYSHRL covers a similar list. Federal law under Title VII covers race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) covers workers 40 and older. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers disability. New York law is generally broader than federal law.

You do not need a smoking gun. Most discrimination cases are built on circumstantial evidence: the timing of an adverse action, how similarly situated employees outside your protected class were treated, statements by decision-makers, departures from standard procedures, and statistical patterns.

Under the NYCHRL, you need only show that discrimination was one of the motivating factors in the adverse action — not the sole or primary reason. Under federal law, you must show that discrimination was a 'but-for' cause of the adverse action, a higher standard.

Under the NYCHRL, you have three years to file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights or in court. Under the NYSHRL, you have three years to file in court. To file with the EEOC under federal law, you generally have 300 days from the discriminatory act in New York. Missing these deadlines can permanently foreclose your claims — contact an attorney before the deadline, not after.

Document the adverse action and the circumstances surrounding it. Note who made the decision, what reason was given, and how employees outside your protected class were treated in similar situations. Save any relevant communications.

Report the discrimination through your employer's internal complaint procedure if you feel safe doing so — this creates a record and may trigger your employer's obligation to investigate. Then contact an employment attorney. The attorney can help you evaluate your claims, identify the right forum, and meet the applicable deadlines.

Retaliation occurs when an employer takes an adverse action against an employee because the employee engaged in protected activity. Protected activity includes: reporting discrimination or harassment to a supervisor or HR, filing a complaint with the EEOC, NYSDHR, or NYC Commission on Human Rights, participating in an investigation or lawsuit, requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability or religious practice, taking protected leave under the FMLA or New York Paid Family Leave Law, and reporting wage theft or other labor law violations.

Adverse actions include termination, demotion, pay cuts, schedule changes, negative performance reviews, reassignment to less desirable duties, and any other action that would dissuade a reasonable employee from engaging in protected activity.

Retaliation often follows protected activity quickly — a termination two weeks after an HR complaint, a demotion the month after an EEOC charge. Courts and agencies recognize that close temporal proximity between protected activity and an adverse action is evidence of retaliation.

Employers know this, so they sometimes delay retaliation or manufacture a pretext — a sudden performance problem, a policy violation that was never enforced before. An experienced employment attorney can identify these patterns and build a case around them.

Not all retaliation ends in a formal termination. Constructive discharge occurs when an employer makes working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable employee would feel compelled to resign. Courts treat a constructive discharge as a termination for legal purposes.

If you resigned because your employer made your job unbearable after you engaged in protected activity, you may still have a retaliation claim. Document the conditions that led to your resignation and contact an attorney before too much time passes.

Retaliation claims follow the same deadlines as the underlying discrimination or harassment claims. Under the NYCHRL, you have three years. Under federal law, you generally have 300 days to file with the EEOC.

Document everything: the protected activity you engaged in, the adverse action that followed, the timing, and any statements by supervisors or HR. Contact an employment attorney promptly — retaliation claims are strongest when the evidence is fresh and the deadlines have not run.

New York is an at-will employment state, which means an employer can generally terminate an employee for any reason or no reason at all — as long as the reason is not unlawful. The at-will rule has significant exceptions that protect most employees in practice.

Your termination may be unlawful if it was based on a protected characteristic (discrimination), in response to protected activity (retaliation), in violation of a written or implied employment contract, in violation of public policy, or in violation of a specific statute such as the FMLA, the New York Paid Family Leave Law, or the New York Labor Law.

If you were fired because of your race, gender, age, disability, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or another protected characteristic, your termination is unlawful under the NYCHRL, NYSHRL, and federal law. You do not need direct evidence — most discrimination cases are built on circumstantial evidence including the timing of the termination, how similarly situated employees outside your protected class were treated, and departures from standard procedures.

If you were fired after reporting discrimination or harassment, filing a complaint, requesting an accommodation, taking protected leave, or engaging in any other protected activity, your termination may be retaliatory. Retaliation claims are among the most common and strongest employment law claims in New York.

If you have a written employment contract that limits the grounds for termination or requires a specific process before termination, your employer must follow it. Violation of a written contract is a breach of contract claim independent of any discrimination or retaliation claim.

Implied contracts can also arise from employee handbooks, offer letters, or consistent employer representations. If your employer's handbook states that employees will only be terminated for cause, a court may find that an implied contract exists.

Request a written explanation for your termination. Review any severance agreement carefully before signing — severance agreements typically require you to waive your legal claims, and you have a limited window to consider and revoke them. Do not sign anything without consulting an attorney.

Preserve any documents, emails, or other evidence related to your employment and termination. Contact an employment attorney promptly — the deadlines to file discrimination and retaliation claims can be as short as 300 days from the termination date.

Wage theft occurs when an employer fails to pay an employee what the law requires. It takes many forms: paying less than minimum wage, failing to pay overtime, misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime or as independent contractors, making illegal deductions from wages, failing to pay for all hours worked (including off-the-clock work), and stealing tips.

New York's minimum wage is among the highest in the country. In New York City, the minimum wage is $16.50 per hour as of 2026. Overtime must be paid at 1.5 times the regular rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

One of the most common forms of wage theft is misclassification — calling an employee an independent contractor to avoid paying overtime, benefits, and payroll taxes. Whether you are an employee or an independent contractor depends on the economic reality of your relationship with the employer, not what your contract says.

Factors courts consider include: how much control the employer exercises over your work, whether you work exclusively for one employer, whether you use your own tools and equipment, and whether the work is integral to the employer's business. Many workers labeled as independent contractors are legally employees entitled to overtime and other protections.

New York law strictly regulates tip pooling and tip credits. Employers may only include employees who customarily receive tips in a tip pool — managers, supervisors, and owners may not participate. Employers who take a tip credit (paying a lower cash wage because employees receive tips) must ensure that tips bring the employee's total compensation up to the full minimum wage.

If your employer has taken tips, included ineligible employees in a tip pool, or failed to pay the full minimum wage after applying a tip credit, you may have a wage theft claim.

Under the New York Labor Law, successful wage theft claims entitle you to unpaid wages plus liquidated damages equal to 100% of the unpaid wages — effectively doubling your recovery. You are also entitled to attorney's fees, which means you can pursue a wage theft claim without paying legal fees out of pocket.

You have six years to file a wage theft claim under the New York Labor Law. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the deadline is two or three years depending on whether the violation was willful. Contact an attorney to ensure you file in the right forum and within the applicable deadline.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 broadened the definition significantly — conditions including cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, PTSD, depression, anxiety disorders, and many others qualify.

Under the New York City Human Rights Law, the definition is even broader: any physical, medical, mental, or psychological impairment, or a history of such impairment. The NYCHRL does not require that the impairment substantially limit a major life activity — it is enough that the employer perceives you as having an impairment.

A reasonable accommodation is any modification to the job, work environment, or the way work is performed that enables a qualified employee with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job. Examples include: modified work schedules, remote work, reassignment to a vacant position, leave of absence, modified equipment or technology, and changes to workplace policies.

An accommodation is not reasonable if it would impose an undue hardship on the employer — a significant difficulty or expense. Undue hardship is assessed based on the employer's size, financial resources, and the nature of the accommodation. Large employers face a higher bar for claiming undue hardship.

When you request an accommodation, your employer is required to engage in a good-faith interactive process — a dialogue to identify an effective accommodation. Your employer cannot simply deny your request without exploring alternatives. If your employer fails to engage in the interactive process, that failure itself may be an independent violation of the law.

You are not required to use magic words like 'reasonable accommodation' or 'ADA.' Any communication that puts your employer on notice that you have a medical condition and need an adjustment to your work is sufficient to trigger the interactive process.

Document your accommodation request and your employer's response in writing. If your employer denies your request, ask for the reason in writing. If your employer fails to engage in the interactive process or denies a reasonable accommodation without justification, you may have a disability discrimination claim.

Under the NYCHRL, you have three years to file. Under the ADA, you generally have 300 days to file with the EEOC. Contact an employment attorney promptly — disability accommodation cases often turn on the specific facts of the interactive process, and the evidence is strongest when it is fresh.

The FMLA entitles eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for: the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child; the serious health condition of the employee or an immediate family member; or qualifying exigencies related to a family member's military service. To be eligible, you must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months and at least 1,250 hours in the past year, and your employer must have 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

FMLA leave is job-protected — your employer must restore you to the same or an equivalent position when you return. Interference with FMLA rights or retaliation for taking FMLA leave is unlawful.

New York's Paid Family Leave Law provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave to bond with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child; care for a seriously ill family member; or assist when a family member is deployed abroad on active military service. In 2026, PFL pays up to 67% of the statewide average weekly wage.

PFL covers most private-sector employees who have worked for their employer for at least 26 consecutive weeks (or 175 days for part-time employees). Unlike the FMLA, PFL does not require a minimum employer size. Your employer cannot terminate you or reduce your benefits for taking PFL.

New York State requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year. Employers with 5 to 99 employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave. Smaller employers must provide unpaid sick leave. New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act provides additional protections for NYC workers.

Sick leave can be used for your own illness or preventive care, care for a family member, or for safe leave purposes (domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking). Your employer cannot retaliate against you for using sick leave.

If your employer denies a leave request you believe you are entitled to, request the denial in writing and ask for the reason. If you are terminated, demoted, or otherwise penalized for taking or requesting protected leave, you may have a retaliation claim under the FMLA, the PFL Law, or the New York Labor Law.

FMLA retaliation claims must be filed within two years (three years for willful violations). Contact an employment attorney promptly — leave retaliation cases often involve complex interactions between multiple statutes, and the facts matter enormously.

A severance agreement is a contract between you and your employer in which you agree to release legal claims in exchange for severance pay or other benefits. Employers are not required to offer severance — when they do, it is almost always in exchange for a release of claims.

The release typically covers all claims arising out of your employment, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage theft, and breach of contract claims. Once you sign and the revocation period expires, you generally cannot pursue those claims in court or before an agency.

If you are 40 or older, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) requires your employer to give you at least 21 days to consider a severance agreement that includes a waiver of age discrimination claims (45 days if the termination is part of a group layoff). You also have 7 days after signing to revoke the agreement.

For employees under 40, New York law requires a reasonable period to consider the agreement. Courts have found that agreements signed under pressure or without adequate time to review may be unenforceable.

Before signing a severance agreement, consider: Is the severance amount fair compensation for the claims you are releasing? Does the agreement include a non-disparagement clause that restricts what you can say about your employer? Does it include a non-compete or non-solicitation clause that restricts your future employment? Does it require you to cooperate in future litigation?

New York law limits the enforceability of non-compete agreements — they must be reasonable in scope, duration, and geographic area, and must protect a legitimate business interest. An overly broad non-compete may be unenforceable even if you sign it.

The value of a severance agreement depends entirely on the strength of the claims you are releasing. An employment attorney can evaluate your potential claims, assess whether the severance offered is fair compensation for those claims, and negotiate for better terms.

Many employment attorneys offer free consultations and work on contingency for discrimination and retaliation claims — meaning you pay nothing unless you recover. The cost of a consultation is almost always worth it before you sign away your legal rights.