Long Island Housing Services faces discrimination lawsuit from ex-employee

A former employee of a Long Island nonprofit that investigates housing discrimination alleges in a federal lawsuit she experienced workplace discrimination and faced retaliation after making complaints to senior leaders.

JaNeen West, who worked as a fair housing investigator at Long Island Housing Services in Bohemia, claimed in the suit that an employee at the nonprofit made derogatory comments about women to her. When she raised these complaints, the nonprofit retaliated against her, and ultimately she left her job after less than a year in January 2023, the suit said.

It was filed last week in federal court in Central Islip and seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages for the alleged violations of federal and state law. 

"Considering they're an agency designed literally to protect people against discrimination in housing, it's particularly shocking that this is how this entire situation was handled," said Sara Wyn Kane, West's attorney and a partner at Valli Kane & Vagnini in Garden City. 

Long Island Housing Services is the only locally based fair housing enforcement agency and has settled dozens of housing discrimination complaints with landlords and real estate agents over the past five years. 

Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, declined to comment on the lawsuit while the case is ongoing.

West alleged that another employee made comments about his home life, such as "women should be cutting the kids’ hair" and "women should be cooking and cleaning and taking care of the kids so that the men can work," according to the lawsuit.

He made these comments to West while telling her he was tired because he was taking care of these responsibilities instead of his wife, according to the lawsuit.

After complaining about the employee's comments to the nonprofit's deputy director, West alleged that the organization retaliated by shifting her work responsibilities and criticizing her work over minor details, according to the lawsuit. She said Wilder was dismissive of her complaint. 

Disability discrimination claim

West also alleged the nonprofit did not grant her a reasonable accommodation to work fully remotely because she has lung nodules and a doctor had advised her to avoid situations where she would be at greater risk of illness. When she was hired, she was allowed to work remotely two to three days a week. 

After making the request, the lawsuit alleges the nonprofit retaliated against her by requesting her entire medical record, including patient histories, medical tests and billing records, after she had provided a doctor’s note with the request. It later modified the request to a list of questions for her doctor. 

"It’s overburdensome, unnecessary and completely invasive," Kane said of LIHS' request. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion sex and national origin, while the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. New York State Human Rights Law offers similar protections for more than a dozen protected classes.

Both federal and state law prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who file complaints.

While West was never officially granted the accommodation, she was also not ordered back to the office. However, the nonprofit required her to use paid time off for travel time spent retrieving supplies from the office, according to the lawsuit.

The federal standard for workplace harassment requires that the conduct is severe or pervasive, creating a hostile work environment, said David H. Rosenberg, a Melville-based attorney who represents plaintiffs in employment law cases. 

"You really want to show the judge that it wasn’t one conversation, but there were many, and then I reported it and they retaliated," he said.

Kane said her aim is to prove the nonprofit retaliated against her client. 

"The question in this case is was she retaliated against for raising the fact that she believed she was being discriminated against," she said.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.