On June 26, 2023, Michael Doud was elected President of the Board as former President, Michael Gestwick, concluded his 5-year term.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve on the Board of Habitat for Humanity and watch it grow and serve the community. Doud has served as a Board Member since July of 2022 and has shown a great deal of passion to continue the work as President,” said Gestwick.
In addition to his role as President, Doud will be serving as Acting Executive Director with the departure of former Executive Director, Adam Feldman, who served for 7 years.
“I look forward to working with the Board and HFH staff, meeting more of our supporters and partners, making sure our current and future builds are on track, and most important, serving more people in the community in the future,” said Doud.
For more information, please call (518) 793-7484 or email mdoud@glensfallshabitat.org. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states and in more than 70 countries around the world. Habitat’s vision is of a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Habitat works towards this vision by building and improving homes in partnership with individuals and families in need of a decent and affordable place to live.
Date: July 1, 2023 Contact: Michael Doud, President, Board of Directors Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties Phone no.: (518) 793-7484 Email: mdoud@glensfallshabitat.org Website: https://www.habitat.org/ny/moreau/glens-falls-area-hfh
GLENS FALLS, NY – The Veterans Business Network (VBN) of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) is once again hosting their annual Veteran Suicide Awareness & Prevention Walk in downtown Glens Falls, NY. The event will be held, rain or shine, on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 13th beginning in downtown Glens Falls City Park.
“As Chair of the ARCC’s VBN I have a small ask from our already supportive community. We Veterans have a saying – All gave some; Some gave ALL,” said Sean Dion, ARCC Veterans Business Network Chair. “This should not hold true once home from the battlefield. Many Veterans are either too proud, or do not know who to trust with their depression or PTSD. They are supposed to be free from danger once home! My small ask is to join the ARCC Veterans Business Network in City Park, Glens Falls, NY on 9/13/23 at 1600 and participate in our Suicide Awareness & Prevention walk. On average 22 Soldiers take their lives daily, and in my humble opinion, one is too many. Please come and support them!”
In 2021, the VBN partnered with the VFW Post 2475 to organize what was then known as the “Stop 22 Walk”. Stop 22 was an initiative, started in 2018, between the Department of NY Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and one of the nation’s leading health and well-being companies HUMANA, to increase awareness of Veterans committing suicide – 22 Veterans are lost each day.
In its third year, the walk has grown in attendance and offerings. Last year saw the addition of informational tables featuring resources and services for Veterans. This year, the plan is to offer the same, and even increase the number of tables.
“The leaders of the ARCC’s VBN have worked tirelessly to reach Veterans in our community to provide valuable connections to resources, business opportunities and each other. This will be the third year the VBN has hosted a walk to raise awareness of the epidemic of Veteran suicide. I am proud to help organize this vital initiative to support our veterans in need and raise funds to invest in prevention. I invite our community to walk with us and share this opportunity to raise awareness with your Veteran friends and colleagues. Even one lost life is too many,” said Carol Ann Conover, ARCC Liaison to the Veterans Business Network.
After brief greeting remarks, participants will walk a circuit around Downtown Glens Falls for 22 minutes in remembrance of those lost and to raise awareness of the need for prevention.
About the Veterans Business Network
The purpose of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Veterans Business Network is to promote and to serve the affinity group of Veteran and military service personnel, veteran and military member sole proprietorships, and veteran and military service professional members of the ARCC and to encourage increased business and collaboration among its ranks.
The bottom line, no matter what you currently do for work, if you are a Veteran and an ARCC member or a Veteran who is employed by an ARCC member, we would love for you to join the ARCC Veterans Business Network.
About the ARCC
Founded in 1914, the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) is a 100% membership funded organization representing in excess of 23,000 people predominantly in New York State’s Washington, Warren, Essex and Northern Saratoga Counties. The ARCC is a 501c6 not-for-profit corporation, governed by volunteer Board of Directors, and does not receive any funding from local, county or state governments. Our mission is to serve our members and business community through our advocacy efforts, education opportunities and the power of connection and collaboration.
Longtime executive with the firm will oversee operations and provide strategic support for all ADNET locations.
ALBANY, NY – ADNET Technologies, a managed IT services, cloud, and cybersecurity provider with offices in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and Albany, New York, announced it has appointed Lynette Maffei to become its new President, taking on an expanded role in which she will continue to drive the firm’s work to deliver client success, develop technology talent and maintain operational excellence.
Maffei joined the firm in 2015 as Controller and has served on ADNET’s Executive Leadership Team as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for the past three years – contributing directly to the firm’s growth and transformation.
In a strategic move, ADNET is separating the roles of Chief Executive Officer and President within the firm. This decision is rooted in the belief that having both positions will allow the organization to scale in unprecedented ways. Christopher J. Luise will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer for the firm and provide strategic guidance and growth planning, with Maffei becoming President and overseeing operations. This new leadership structure will optimize ADNET’s delivery of client technology solutions and further equip the firm to quickly adapt and capitalize on emerging opportunities, while adhering to its longstanding, people-first approach to business.
“Lynette Maffei’s leadership has been instrumental in helping ADNET become the award-winning organization it is today,” said Christopher J. Luise, CEO of ADNET Technologies. “Her dedication to our culture and growth has truly transformed how we do business. I’m so proud of how she has evolved as a leader and helped us shape the future of the firm. I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes as President.”
“I’m thrilled to be part of ADNET’s journey, and I look forward to continuing working alongside such a great team. We’ve had an unparalleled period of growth and innovation over the last few years – expanding geographically, hiring more talent, reimagining our services, and becoming part of the New Charter Technologies national platform,” Maffei said. “I’m excited for the next chapter and to continue supporting clients and our local business communities in this new role.”
“It’s always exciting to see a new leader emerge in one of our operating companies,” said Mitch Morgan, CEO, New Charter Technologies. “New Charter is proud to support Lynette Maffei in her new role, and we’re looking forward to her continued commitment to driving growth and innovation at ADNET Technologies.”
In her tenure at the firm, Maffei has managed the firm’s day-to-day finance, accounting and purchasing functions, while also contributing to organizational growth objectives such as acquisitions and partnerships. Throughout her career, she has focused on operations, administration, finance and human resources.
Formerly the head of finance and operations for the Americas’ region of a global company, she has years of experience with leadership and client service on a global scale. Having worked closely with both small and large organizations, Maffei has a unique perspective on the market. Her focus and experience will benefit ADNET clients, employees, and the local business communities ADNET serves.
About ADNET Technologies
Founded in 1991, ADNET Technologies is a SOC 2, Type II Compliant IT management and cybersecurity firm with offices in Rocky Hill, CT and Albany, NY. ADNET works closely with clients to provide industry-leading service across three core areas—Managed IT Services, Cybersecurity and Cloud—and is distinguished by its human-centered approach to client engagements. From providing seamless access to a vast support network to a dedicated local Engagement Team, ADNET is proud to be both recognized globally and loved locally.
Recognized regionally as one of the Best Places to Work by the Hartford Business Journal and Albany Business Review, ADNET Technologies ranks nationally and globally among the top Managed Services Providers (MSPs) in Channel Futures’ MSP 501 list, ChannelE2E’s Top 250 Public Cloud MSP list and the CRN MSP 500 2022 award. In 2021, ADNET joined the New Charter Technologies national platform of locally led MSPs, which works collaboratively to grow their people-first workplace cultures, create opportunities for technology and cybersecurity professionals and drive innovation within the IT industry. For more information, visit thinkadnet.com.
GLENS FALLS, NY – Local restaurant New Way Lunch will be hosting a visit from America’s Best Restaurants (ABR) in mid-June 2023.
America’s Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focusing on bringing attention to local, independently-owned restaurants, will bring its ABR Roadshow to the Glens Falls location of the restaurant on July 12th. Popular dishes will be highlighted, along with an extensive on-camera interview with the Gazetos family about the restaurant’s special place in the community. The episode will be aired extensively on social media channels at a later date.
Open since 1919, New Way Lunch has expanded to three locations in the area, building their success on the humble hot dog topped with a homemade secret recipe meat sauce. The restaurant started as a quick, inexpensive (5 cent dogs) option for the nearby mill workers needing a hot lunch during the workday. Now the iconic eateries are run by the third and fourth generation of the family who started it all at the original Glens Falls location.
Although the menu has expanded to include hamburgers, salads and other items, New Way Lunch continues to be a popular dining destination for locals and travelers alike. The hot dog remains a custom-made pork and beef dog, served with mustard, onions, and the special ‘dirt dog’ meat sauce on a steamed bun.
After being closed for two years during the pandemic, the Glens Falls location underwent a major renovation and also began selling the meat sauce in jars – without the full ingredient list, as it’s a secret – for retail sale.
America’s Best Restaurants will be filming on location on Wednesday July 12th from 2 pm to 5 pm EST. The press is invited to attend. The restaurant’s finished episode premiere date will be announced on their Facebook page and will be featured on America’s Best Restaurants’ website at https://americasbestrestaurants.com/rests/new-york/new-way-lunch.
Restaurants featured on the ABR Roadshow are found through customer nominations or by a restaurant applying to be featured at www.americasbestrestaurants.com.
About New Way Lunch:
Open Tuesday through Saturday, New Way Lunch is located at 21 South St, Glens Falls NY 12801. Other locations include Queensbury and Warrensburg. Telephone is (518) 792-9803. For more information visit www.newwaylunch.com.
About ABR:
America’s Best Restaurants, a national media and restaurant marketing company based in Florence, KY, travels the country telling the stories and highlighting the unique food of locally owned independent restaurants as part of their ABR Roadshow. Restaurants are featured not only on ABR’s Restaurant Network of social media channels and website, but also each individual establishment’s Facebook page. With over 800 episodes filmed, America’s Best Restaurants is the premier marketing agency for restaurant owners and operators to have their story broadcast coast-to-coast. Visit AmericasBestRestaurants.com to learn more and to view the episodes and profiles of hundreds of America’s Best Restaurants!
Herzog Law Firm PC is pleased to welcome Phillip K. Vacchio, Esq. to the firm as a Senior Associate.
Phillip will provide comprehensive legal counsel to existing and new clients in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law, Estate Administration and Guardianships and will work out of Herzog’s Albany, Clifton Park and Saratoga Springs offices.
Phillip was formerly a partner of a Long Island-based law firm handling the same areas of law and brings his extensive experience to the Capital Region and the North Country. Phillip is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Behavioral and Social Sciences in 2009 and Hofstra University School of Law where he graduated cum laude.
Phillip has been named to the Super Lawyers Rising Star list for the last three years, and he will be an incredible addition to our team.
David Smith Untitled (Home of the Welder), 1946 Gouache on paper 23 x 29 ¼ in. (58.4 x 74.3 cm) The Estate of David Smith, New York
GLENS FALLS, NY – In honor of its sixtieth anniversary, the Hyde Collection is pleased to announce the exhibition Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance. Curated by Dr. Jennifer Field, Executive Director of the Estate of David Smith, this is the first museum exhibition to focus exclusively on the indelible influence of music and dance on Smith’s work in painting, drawing, and sculpture. The exhibition features thirty-five pieces loaned by major private and public collections, including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Harvard Art Museums, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Estate of David Smith, in addition to archival materials from the Estate and works from the Hyde’s permanent collection. The Hyde aims to draw scholars, collectors, and enthusiasts to celebrate Smith’s legacy as well as the enduring traditions of dance and music in the southern Adirondack region.
David Smith (1906-1965; b. Decatur, IN) is recognized as one of the great sculptors of the twentieth century. Smith began spending summers in Bolton Landing, New York, in the late 1920s and settled there permanently in 1940. “The Adirondack region that encompasses Bolton Landing and Glens Falls was inseparable from Smith’s artistic practice,” says Field. “A dialogue with nature—the mountain landscape, the change of seasons, the flight of birds—is reflected in his artwork in every medium.” In the 1940s, inspired by performances in the region and in New York City, Smith initiated an exploration of dancers and musicians rapt in song.
Jason Ward, Hyde Collection Board of Trustees Chair, notes, “As part of his commitment to the area, Smith became deeply involved with the foundation of The Hyde Collection before his premature death in 1965. Charlotte Hyde, the founder of the Museum, was a friend of David Smith and fond of his artistic creations. David Smith was one of the Collection’s earliest trustees and curated The Hyde’s very first summer exhibition, installing his own sculptures on the lawn. In the spirit of that inaugural event, Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance will feature two graceful, vertical sculptures from later in Smith’s career, measuring up to twelve feet tall that poetically evokes the essence of music, dance, and nature. This intimate association with David Smith,” Ward continues, “is what the museum seeks to highlight with this anniversary exhibition.”
In 1926, Smith moved from the Midwest to New York City. There he met artist Dorothy Dehner; they married the following year. Beginning in the mid-1930s, Smith photographed Dehner in dance poses. These images, along with photographs by Barbara Morgan of Martha Graham, spurred Smith’s sustained study of the female figure in motion. Songs of the Horizon features Smith’s sculpture Boaz Dancing School (1945; Private collection)—a stylistically radical interpretation of Franziska Boaz’s Bolton Landing dance studio, and a rare example of Smith explicitly referencing a particular historical and autobiographical moment. This sculpture has been publicly displayed only once since 1947.
Smith cited music as essential to his life and work, particularly classical and jazz from his radio: “I use music as company in the manual labor part of sculpture, of which there is much.” He regularly traveled to New York City to attend concerts and jazz clubs. Locally, he enjoyed the lively summer concert season in Lake George. A trio of drawings depicts a 1946 performance by harpsichordist Sylvia Marlow, reunited here for the first time. These works in turn, engendered an ambitious group of drawings, paintings and sculpture inspired by the two ancient Greek muses of music and dance, represented here by the innovative, abstract sculptures Euterpe and Terpsichore (1946; the Estate of David Smith) and Terpsichore and Euterpe (1947; Harvard Art Museums).
Concurrently, Smith created a series centered on renowned cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, who briefly settled in the Adirondacks in the 1940s. Smith captured the psychological intensity and geometry of the cellist and his instrument in a painting series and in the sculpture Cello Player (1945; Private collection). These works, reunited in the exhibition for the first time in nearly 20 years, are accomplished examples of the complex, abstract direction in which Smith took his paintings and sculptures in the mid-1940s.
Of this exhibition, David Smith’s daughters, Rebecca and Candida Smith, state:
“We are thrilled to see our father’s work back at the Hyde Collection. Our father wanted his sculptures to be experienced in relation to nature, to changing light, weather, and seasons. He always said that an artist is a person of their time. There was a vibrant community of artists and performers in the southern Adirondacks, and our father’s work responded to contemporaneous performing arts and music and was inspired by the wild beauty of the mountains and the lakes.”
– Rebecca and Candida Smith
Additional Information Regarding David Smith
David Smith married artist Dorothy Dehner in 1927. Dehner encouraged Smith to enroll at the Art Students League and introduced him to modern dance. In acknowledgment of the vital role Dehner played in Smith’s early career and his life in the Adirondacks, Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance include a selection of artworks by Dehner. She left the marriage in 1950, returning to New York City. Smith’s works became increasingly large and inventive, his sculptures spreading into the fields of his mountain home.
Accompanying Educational Program Offerings
June 24, 11 AM: Exhibition Tour with Guest Curator Jennifer Field
June 24, 4 PM: Conversation with the Daughters of David Smith
July 2, 6:30 PM: The Sculptor and the Musician: European Baroque Chamber Music
July 20, 5:30-7:30 PM: Adult Workshop: Modern Dance with Ginny Martin & Dana Yager
July 22, 7:30 PM: “A Tribute to David Smith” with Hub New Music
July 25, 27 & August 1, 3, 10-11:15 AM: Youth Workshop: Earth Movement with Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company
July 27 & 28, 12-4 PM: Youth Workshop: Modern Dance with Ginny Martin & Dana Yager
July 28, 5:30 PM: Performance: Modern Dance with Ginny Martin & Dana Yager
August 6, 10 AM-5 PM: Community Day
August 17, 6 PM: Lecture: David Smith, Music, Dance and Community with Paula Wisotzki
September 8-10, 9 AM-4 PM: Welding Workshop with Salem Art Works: Inspired by David Smith
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Special thank you to: The Charles R. Wood Foundation and The Hoopes Family Foundation
Leading Sponsors: The Glens Falls Foundation, Anne and George Morris, Francine and Robert Nemer, Franklin and Mary Renz, Charnell H. Thompson, and Jason C. Ward and Heather M. Ward
Major Sponsors: Mr. Mark Behan, Tenée and James Casaccio, The Chateau On The Lake, Ellen-Deane Cummins, D.A. Collins, Carl and Terry DeBrule, Tom and Sally Hoy, The Robert Lehman Foundation, J.M. McDonald Foundation, and Wilmington Trust
Supporting Sponsors: India and Benjamin Adams, Atherton Painting & Renovations, Giorgio and Maureen DeRosa, KEENA Staffing Inc., Mrs. Joan Lapham, Mr. John J. Nigro, Dennis J. Phillips and Patricia Smith Phillips, The Queensbury Hotel, Chelsea and Joshua Silver, StoredTech IT Consulting, Sarah Parker Ward and Chris Ward, Warren County Bar Association, and Domenique and Dmitriy Yermolayev
A SECOND EXHIBITION OPENING
The 1960s: Beyond Op and Pop
The 1960s are understood as the dawn of widespread progressive social views, from the civil rights movement to war protests and the sexual revolution. The visual arts as well experienced the advent of radical styles, including Op Art, Pop Art, and countless new approaches to what it meant to work abstractly.
Notwithstanding the allure of novelty, not all artists shunned the “real world”—and the sixties also saw the development of the painting style known as Photorealism. The 1960s: Beyond Op and Pop draws from The Hyde’s permanent collection of 1960s painting, sculpture, and works on paper in a wide range of styles.
About David Smith
Widely regarded as one of the most innovative sculptors of his generation, David Smith (1906-1965) was pioneering in his ability to fuse Surrealist and Cubist influences, redefining what sculpture could be for the modern world. David Smith’s sculptures, paintings, and drawings have been exhibited internationally since the 1950s. Smith represented the United States at La Biennale di Venezia in 1954 and 1958. Numerous solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted in the decades since, including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1965, 2011), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1969, 2006); the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1982); Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (1994); MNCA, Reina Sofia, Madrid (1996); Tate Modern, London (2006); Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY (1997-99, 2017), and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2019-20), among many other venues.
About The Hyde Collection
The Hyde is one of the Northeast’s exceptional small art museums with distinguished European and American art collections. The core collection, acquired by Museum founders Louis and Charlotte Hyde, includes works by such artists as Sandro Botticelli, El Greco, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Edgar Degas, Georges Seurat, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and American artists Thomas Eakins, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, and James McNeill Whistler. The Museum’s Modern and Contemporary art collection features works by artists including Josef Albers, Dorothy Dehner, Sam Gilliam, Adolph Gottlieb, Grace Hartigan, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, George McNeil, Robert Motherwell, Ben Nicholson, Robert Rauschenberg, and Bridget Riley. Today, The Hyde offers significant national and international exhibitions and a packed schedule of events that help visitors experience art in new ways. Visit www.hydecollection.org.
The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library is 30 years old and we’re celebrating with a free Festival in City Park, outside the Library, Tuesday, July 25th, 10 am to 5 pm.
Over 50 folk artists will fill the park demonstrating their crafts and traditions. Up close and personal, festival goers will be able to witness first hand the skill, and to talk directly with the experts. Many of the artists will also have a hands-on component.
The list of traditions is far reaching: Afghanistan kites, black ash and birch bark basketry, barn quilts, blacksmithing, chainsaw carving, chair caning, drumming, fiber arts, fly fishing flies and casting, hammer dulcimer, henna art, iconography painting, Irish stick fighting, nature garden sculpture, painted floor cloths, paper art, photographic portraits, plasma cut metal work, primitive weaving on a peg loom, rough edge bowl turning, sculptures of found objects, stringed instrument making, stonework, timber framing, tintype photography, torah scribing, ukulele club, wood carving birds.
There’ll be live music all day at the Bandstand. The morning will showcase Adirondack music, with Dan Berggren, Dan Duggan, Josh Clevenstine (10 am), followed by John Kirk and Trish Miller with Cedar Stanistreet and Greg Anderson (11 am). At noon, The McKrells will join us with Irish music. The Desi Trio will take the stage with Pakistani music at 1:30 pm, followed a by Alex Torres and his Latin Orchestra at 2:30 pm). We’ll wind up the day with a country music reunion 4-5 pm, featuring Marty Wendell, Al and Kathy Bain, and the legendary Smokey Greene & Sons.
We’re also scheduling food demonstrations in front of the Library (homestead cheeses, Congolese recipes, local soul food dinner, etc), a selection of food trucks along Maple Street, and other participatory activities.
Thanks to our major partners, New York Folklore (Schenectady) and Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (Canton) for helping organize the event, to the Friends of Crandall Public Library for additional funds, and to the many local organizations joining us for a day of fun for the entire family.
Today we are going to talk about what to do if you are hurt in a car accident involving a driver who was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
There are a couple of things that you need to think about if and when you are involved in an accident involving a drunk driver, or a driver who was under the influence of drugs, including marijuana, which is now recreationally legal in New York.
The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure that the police are called so that a police report can be made, statements obtained, etc. If a driver is under the influence they will likely be issued tickets, which is important because that can help you establish liability down the road in the event that you have to file a lawsuit or if you’re dealing with an insurance company.
You’ll want to make sure that you call the police, that the police come to the scene, accident reports are completed, insurance information is exchanged, and any witnesses are identified by the responding police officer. After the accident, you or your attorney is going to want to reach out to the local court or district attorney who is responsible for prosecuting those tickets, who will be notified that this was an accident that involved a serious injury.
Why do we do that? Because then the prosecutor is less likely to give a quick plea deal to the wrongdoer, which may become important later if there is an admission of liability in the criminal matter.
You’ll next want to make confirm the insurance coverage limits for the other driver, and notify any relevant insurance carriers. This may not only include the other driver as we’ll discuss below.
After you have determined the other driver’s insurance coverage limits, you may need to notify your own insurance company that you have a potential SUM or UM claim. This is a claim that allows you to seek damages from your own insurance company in excess of the other driver’s insurance.
Why is this important?
This is important because often drunk driver involve very serious injuries. You may need surgery or surgeries. You may have a long recovery. You may miss work, or worse. If the other driver has minimal insurance coverage it may not be enough to adequately compensate you.
SUM or UM coverage – under your own insurance policy – is there to help you in this exact scenario, and in many cases allows you to make a claim for damages beyond the other driver’s coverage. If you don’t know what your SUM or UM coverage is take a look at the declarations page on your auto insurance policy. You can get that from your insurance carrier.
TIP: If you’re able to, you should increase your SUM/UM coverage. It’s relatively cheap, and we have had far too many clients obtain less than they should because of inadequate coverage.
Of course the most important thing following an accident is to take care of yourself or your family member. Thinking about the above, however, may also help you or your family in the end.
If you have questions contact us today.
*Attorney advertising. Not intended as legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community are protected from discrimination and harassment in the workplace under both New York State and federal law. The New York Human Rights Law explicitly lists sexual orientation and gender identity as protected statuses, and the United States Supreme Court – in the landmark 2020 civil rights case Bostock v. Clayton County – found that Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination encompasses both sexual orientation and gender identity.
New York’s law more expressly addresses issues relating to gender identity because of GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act). Specifically, GENDA applied the protections of New York’s human rights laws to gender identity and expression, which are defined as “a person’s actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender.”
What does this mean? Most of us are familiar with what it means to target someone because of their sexual orientation, i.e., someone’s physical, romantic or emotional attraction to another person. Some of us are more recently learning about gender identity and what it means to be transgender, i.e., that someone’s gender identity is different from the one they were assigned at birth. Individuals are also protected from gender stereotyping, i.e., you do identify as the same gender you were assigned at birth, but you don’t, for example, dress in the way one expects a woman or a man to dress and you are targeted for that reason.
What is illegal? Anti-discrimination statutes prohibit employers from taking what we call an “adverse employment action” – like getting fired or not being promoted – against an employee because of that employee’s protected status. Most employees are “at will”, meaning they can be fired at any time for any reason, so the sticking point in any employment case is demonstrating that the employee was targeted because of their protected status and not some other reason, even if we don’t agree with it.
These laws also protect employees from harassment based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. When harassment rises to the level of a hostile work environment and, in extreme cases, to the employee’s forced resignation, they can also have a claim under the anti-discrimination laws. The law also encourages employees to complain about harassment, and those complaints – assuming they specifically raise the illegal reason – are protected from retaliation.
What can I do if I am targeted? Making an internal complaint to your boss or HR is always an option, and the law encourages this type of complaint particularly if the harasser or wrongdoer is a coworker. Retaliation is always a risk, but this can be an opportunity for the employer to make things right. You can also make a complaint to the EEOC (this is required to preserve federal claims) or to the New York State Division of Human Rights (this is optional). Lawsuits are also an option and employees are allowed to make immediate claims in court under New York State law which, unlike federal law, does not require making a complaint to an agency first.
This article is for informational purposes and should not be relied on as legal advice or in taking action at work. Every situation is different and you should consult your employee handbook and consider speaking with an attorney to discuss your rights and options.
Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Kevin Geraghty declared a state of emergency in Warren County on Tuesday, amid concerns about New York City unilaterally relocating by bus large numbers of migrants seeking asylum to counties around New York State. The order was signed by Chairman Geraghty on Tuesday, and filed with the Warren County Clerk’s Office. A copy of it can be found online here.
Declaring a state of emergency preserves the county’s ability to receive federal and/or New York State financial assistance should the migrant crisis have a financial impact on Warren County. In addition, it requires that owners of hotels, campgrounds, short-term rentals, or multiple-room dwellings who would consider housing migrants receive permission from the Warren County Board of Supervisors to do so.
Chairman Geraghty noted: “Warren County residents and leaders have a long history of welcoming individuals from around the world to our beautiful county. However, a rapid increase of individuals in need of social services, public health assistance and other services provided by our county, city and town agencies has the potential to create significant problems for Warren County and municipalities across the county without proper planning and funding.”
In addition, Warren County Administrator John Taflan has organized a task force of county agencies to review the county’s procedures and options should Warren County receive a significant number of migrants. Representatives of Warren County Department of Social Services, Health Services Department, Office of Emergency Services, Sheriff’s Office, Planning & Community Development Department, Glens Falls Hospital and Hudson Headwaters Health Network are represented on the task force.
The group met Monday with a representative of a local non-profit that works with immigrants to discuss potential concerns and options in dealing with large numbers of those seeking asylum, and has additional meetings planned later this week.
