Human Rights Commission finally eases up on discriminatory restaurant ads – New York Post

Nearly two years after the citys Human Rights Commission promised to ease up on restaurants that unwittingly violate hiring laws, it finally made good on that vow.

On June 21, the commission quietly reduced fines in two cases eliminated the penalty entirely in a third case where establishments had posted online ads seeking staffers of a specific nationality or gender which isnt allowed.

Its not clear why it took the commission 2 years to reverse its aggressive approach, which included using undercover digital stings to prove that restaurants had discriminated against some job applicants.

In the most unusual of the cases, the commission went full blast after restaurant middleman Ayhan Aksoy in August 2015 for posting a Craigslist ad seeking Eastern European waitresses and a female bartender/phone person.

The agency sought a $15,000 fine against Aksoy who posted the ad on behalf of a friend who owns a restaurant since his ad discriminated on two fronts, gender and nationality.

An administrative judge agreed to a lower $5,000 fine.

But two weeks ago the agency undercut its own Law Department which argued the case by reversing the judges ruling and dismissing the fine.

The commission now says its own lawyers didnt prove that the restaurant in question employs at least four people, the minimum required to be subject to human rights law.

In recent years, the New York City Commission on Human Rights has revised its approach to cases involving unlawful postings. Instead of allocating valuable public resources to litigation, the New York City Commission on Human Rights is reaching out to small, unsophisticated potential respondents who appear to be unfamiliar with the NYCHRL [New York City Human Rights Law] and educating them about their obligations under the law, the agency wrote in one of its recently-amended decisions.

This approach recognizes that greater impact can often be achieved by focusing on changing behavior, rather than simply imposing penalties.

Aksoy said he was relieved that the agency finally cleared him.

I had no intention whatsoever to discriminate against any certain group of people, he told The Post.

Other cases the agency recently downgraded include:

All three of the cases were litigated and amended after the appointment of current Human Rights chair Carmelyn Malalis, whom Mayor de Blasio tapped to lead the agency in November 2014.

Agency spokesman Seth Hoy acknowledged the agencys revamped approach to dealing with violations by small businesses.

The Commission continues to decide cases as quickly as possible to get justice for victims and hold violators accountable, said Hoy. In these cases, the Chair and Commissioner took time to reconsider the commissions approach to cases involving unlawful ads by small business owners.

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Human Rights Commission finally eases up on discriminatory restaurant ads - New York Post