Skip the (Protected Class) Personal Jokes to Maintain Compliance in Business and at Work

From the NYS Attorney General’s website, defining discrimination under NYS Human Rights Law:

What type of discrimination is unlawful?
Under the NYS Human Rights Law, it is illegal for an employer or licensing agency to refuse to hire or employ, or to fire an individual on the basis of his or her creed, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, disability, military status, domestic violence victim status or predisposing genetic characteristics. It is unlawful to discriminate against an individual in compensation, training programs, or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of a protected category.

All of the above illegal discrimination categories are also known as protected categories or classes. It’s illegal to harass anyone who falls in the above protected classes (including but not limited to age and pregnancy) in the workplace, as it’s considered discrimination.

All of us will eventually join one protected class: we will all grow older in the workplace.

Joking about someone’s protected class status in the workplace is considered to be a form of verbal harassment (discrimination). Avoiding jokes in the following categories, while not inclusive, are a good idea to avoid in the workplace and workplace-related settings (e.g., a business dinner):

• Sexual (dirty jokes);
• Religious jokes;
• Jokes about the color of someone’s skin;
• Homophobic jokes;
• Jokes that use slurs in the above and other protected class categories;
• “Old” person jokes;

You get the drift. My general advice as I conduct a live / interactive Workplace Harassment Training is to avoid talking (and/or joking) about sex, politics, religion, the other above topics and all other protected classes in business and at work.