A Few Real-Life Examples of “Petty Slights” or “Trivial Inconveniences” (Not NYS Sexual or Other Harassment) in Business and at Work

When I was the Director of HR for a national company, we would hold an annual holiday party for employees’ children (including my son, until he was 4 years old) located at the home office and distribution center. Members of the HR team would (voluntarily) dress up in holiday garb, and I was happy to dress up as an elf – my (lack of) height lent authenticity to the role. No one was required to don these costumes.

For that and other reasons, I was interested to read this article last week regarding a former employee filing a Human Rights complaint claiming that his human rights were violated by his employer requiring him to attend a meeting at a diner he was personally boycotting, and asking him on a separate occasion to dress up as a leprechaun and pull a candy wagon in a parade – he refused to do both.

Under the recently expanded definition of sexual harassment in NYS earlier this year, the new law includes: “(the) employer may be liable for any sexually harassing (or other discriminatory / harassing conduct – clarification mine) conduct that rises above the level of “petty slights and trivial inconveniences.” For the average employer, there have been very few examples of what “petty slights and trivial inconveniences” actually look like.

Now I’m not a lawyer (and I don’t play one on t.v.); however, based on my nearly 30 years of HR experience conducting harassment prevention training, preventing, investigating and remediating incidences of harassment and responding to human rights complaints in NYS, the complaints above are 2 solid real-life examples of workplace “petty slights and trivial inconveniences” – not discrimination and/or harassment.

Do you have other real-life examples of workplace “petty slights and trivial inconveniences” that don’t rise to the updated NYS legal definition of harassment and/or discrimination, in business and at work?