Question

Nina Stiller is passionate about modern sculpture and works for an art dealer in New York City. In her job, she is responsible for traveling the country to assess sculptures that are being sold by private owners and determining if the art dealer should buy them. She also privately collects sculptures that she thinks are great works of art and will become valuable over time. She will sometimes sell the sculptures she owns privately if she gets an offer that will make her a lot of money. She is saving the money from the sales because she hopes to open up her own art dealership one day. Unfortunately, her boss at the art dealership discovers that she sometimes sells pieces from her private sculpture collection for a profit. Her boss wants to fire her because her private sculpture sales are a conflict of interest with her work at the art dealer.

Nina’s boss is worried that firing Nina would violate the New York law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees for their participation in legal recreational activities pursued outside of work hours.

Use the language from the New York law that was analyzed in theNew York v. Walmartcase to explain why Nina would not be protected by this law from being fired.

Answer 1

answer-

As we learned under New york's law of Protected Off-Duty Conduct in which an employer can not terminate an employee for activities like recreational activities happening outside the work hours and off the work premises and without use of employer's resources.

But there is certain exceptions to this which can make employer to fire employee legally.

"The law does not protect employees’ off-duty conduct that creates a material conflict of interest related to the employer’s trade secrets, proprietary information, or other proprietary or business interest. "

In this case, we can see how collection and selling of work of arts done privately create conflict of interest of arts dealer business. These activities of Nina to purchase privately and sell them at profit then open a new business means creation of new competitor for Art dealership company. This cause conflict of business interest and leads to Nina's termination legally.