Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

The good news is that an employer cannot "force" you to do much of anything. The bad news is that an employer can fire you if you do not consent to the changed work hours.

Your question is a good one. Let me try to help you understand some of the intricacies of employment law and, at the same time, acquaint you with the range of protection. First, as a general rule, an employer can do pretty much what it wants. There are only a few exceptions to that general rule:

1. If there is an employment agreement (such as a collective bargaining agreement), in which case the terms of that agreement must be consulted in order to understand what protections, if any, the employee has;

2. If there is discrimination based on such factor as sex, pregnancy, age, disability, color, creed, race, national origin, or religion. Some states, such as New York, impose certain other protections, based on such things as marital status and sexual orientation;

3. If there is retaliation against an employee for standing up against unlawful discrimination, or for being a "whistleblower," or there exists a hostile work environment based on such discrimination factors.

If none of the three things above is involved, does that mean an employer can do whatever it wants? Yes (provided of course that it does not violate any law). The laws, however, do not offer the kinds of protection that many people think would apply.

The general public usually assumes (not unreasonably) that fairness to an employee is somehow imbedded in our statutory and caselaw, but employment is governed more by the laws of the jungle than it is by, say, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Law, or the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the New York Human Rights Law.

Good luck to you.