New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

Published on: May 10, 2023

The New Jersey Appellate Division Addresses the Discoverability of a Worker’s Social Media Posts as Part of Her Discrimination Case

Social media represents a nearly ubiquitous presence in the lives of many people today. Older generations often counsel younger ones to be wary of “putting too much out there” on social media or text messages. While the wisdom of that advice can be reasonably debated, there undisputedly are times when your social media content can play a role in your discrimination or harassment case, and it’s important to recognize that reality at the outset. As with any aspect of your discrimination case, a skilled New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer can advise of your rights, as well as what your obligations may be under the rules of discovery.

A disability discrimination case from Union County shows an example of a situation where the worker’s online information was discoverable.

N.D., the worker, was a staff attorney with a nonprofit that performed legal advocacy for people with disabilities. The staff attorney was herself a person with disabilities, as she had received diagnoses of lupus and cancer. In January 2020, the organization fired the staff attorney, so she sued, alleging that the termination was an act of impermissible disability discrimination in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Published on: April 28, 2023

Advancing a Viable Retaliation Claim in New Jersey, Even Without Successfully Proving Discrimination or Harassment

by Phillips & Associates

As this blog has discussed before — but it definitely bears repeating again — when an employer retaliates against an employee for pursuing a claim of discrimination or harassment, that employee can secure a favorable judgment on retaliation even if the discrimination or harassment claim ultimately fails. To find out what legal options most sense for your situation, reach out to a skilled New Jersey workplace retaliation lawyer.

A recent federal discrimination and retaliation case is a good illustration of two things. One is the retaliation-related issue discussed above. The other is a reminder of the evidentiary elements it takes to succeed on a race discrimination claim.

The plaintiff, F.S., was a Black woman and a managerial employee for the state Superior Court in Camden, having started there in 2013. Problems allegedly arose quickly and the manager filed a discrimination suit under the Law Against Discrimination in 2014.

Published on: April 21, 2023

How an Employer’s Internal Investigation May Form the Basis of an Employee’s Winning Retaliation Claim

by Phillips & Associates

Workers who raise complaints of discrimination face many on-the-job risks, including retaliatory termination. Sometimes, the retaliatory motive may be evident in the employer’s stated (bogus) reason for termination. Other times, the stated reason may be legitimate but the investigation that preceded it may have been the product of retaliatory motivations. In either circumstance, your employer’s “retaliatory animus” may be enough to give you a winning retaliation case. If you think you’ve been the victim of that kind of illegal employment practice, don’t wait to contact a knowledgeable New Jersey workplace retaliation lawyer to discuss your situation.

Here’s an example of what we mean. J.C. was a Black man who worked for a steel fabricator in southeast Pennsylvania. The employee suffered from herniated discs and arthritis in his back, a disability that caused him to pursue leave from work under the Family Medical Leave Act.

The employer fired the man in the summer of 2019. It claimed that it had found proof on his cell phone that he’d been soliciting sex workers while on company time and company property. The fired employee contended that the company fired him in retaliation for his complaints of race discrimination and disability discrimination, as well as using FMLA leave.

Published on: April 14, 2023

What the Newly Enacted ‘PUMP Act’ Means for New Jersey Working Moms Who Breastfeed

by Phillips & Associates

On Dec. 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (or “PUMP Act“) into law. This new law expands workplace protections for women who are breastfeeding or expressing breast milk, providing legal coverage for some 9 million additional working moms. New Jersey law has recognized pregnant and/or breastfeeding women as a protected class under the Law Against Discrimination since 2018. If you believe that your employer has mistreated you in violation of the law because you were breastfeeding or pumping during the workday, you should talk to a New Jersey breastfeeding discrimination lawyer about what legal options exist for you.

While discrimination based on pregnancy has been a violation of federal law generally since 1978 (when the federal government enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act,) many holes in the federal law remained, leaving pregnant workers and working moms with infants vulnerable in a variety of ways, especially when it came to nursing their newborns or expressing breast milk for that baby.

Congress initially passed a bill to protect moms who breastfeed or pump at work in 2010, and President Obama signed it into law. However, because that language got placed in a provision of the federal statutes dealing with overtime compensation, moms who were not entitled to overtime pay were not covered by the 2010 law’s protections. That fraction represented roughly 25% of “working women of childbearing age,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Published on: April 7, 2023

Federal Versus New Jersey Age Discrimination and Disability Discrimination Laws: What’s the Difference?

by Phillips & Associates

In some situations, you may encounter workplace discrimination that targets you for one specific reason. Other times, you may be the victim of discrimination that spans multiple protected characteristics. (Still other times, the nature of the discrimination may involve a tandem of protected characteristics, such as, for example, discrimination specifically targeting Latina women.) Each of those scenarios may implicate state anti-discrimination law, federal law, or both. Whatever the nature of your circumstance, you can help your case’s chances of success by talking to an experienced New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer as soon as possible.

These issues of state anti-discrimination law versus federal law are sometimes quite significant as, in some ways, the procedural requirements between the two can vary in important ways.

Take, for example, the multi-faceted discrimination case of E.D., a woman who worked for an insurance entity. Her complaint alleged that she endured disability discrimination when her employer failed to engage in a good faith interactive process to provide her with a reasonable accommodation after her return to work from emergency surgery.

Published on: March 31, 2023

The Appellate Division Court Revives a New Jersey Municipal Judge’s Discrimination Case Predicated on Her Perceived Alcoholism

by Phillips & Associates

As a worker in New Jersey, you need to understand that the Law Against Discrimination (LAD) protects you from discrimination not just as a result of your membership in a protected class but also as a result of your employer’s perception that you were a member of a protected class, even if that belief was factually incorrect. On this basis, if your bosses punished you because they thought you were, for example, disabled, you can win a LAD case, even if you were not disabled. A knowledgeable New Jersey disability discrimination lawyer can help you determine how to advance your case based on a perceived disability.

V.P. was a municipal court judge in Newark whose LAD case was one of perceived disability. Problems came to a head in May 2017 when, one day, the chief judge believed she smelled alcohol on V.P.’s breath. The judge denied that she’d been drinking.

The chief judge contacted the city’s personnel director and informed her that the judge “was intoxicated and emanating the smell of alcohol…” The memo also contained the chief judge’s accusation that she suspected V.P. of being drunk at work one time before.

Published on: March 24, 2023

How You May Have Been a Participant in a Consensual Office Affair and also a Victim of Sexual Harassment

by Phillips & Associates

Workplaces are dynamic and complex places. Coworkers may work with one another, argue with one another, and… sometimes… fall in love with one another. Office romances can be complicated and, even if they are mutually consensual, they still can have sexual harassment interwoven into them. If you’ve found yourself embroiled in a situation like that, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you cannot possibly win a sexual harassment case. Instead, get in touch with a New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer and find out what your options really are.

A recent sexual harassment case from here in North Jersey is an example of what we mean.

K.B. was an administrative worker at a hospital in Bergen County. In 2016, the employer promoted her to office manager and assigned her to work for A.H., a doctor of internal medicine. The manager and the doctor engaged in a mutually consensual romantic affair.

Published on: March 17, 2023

Mandatory Arbitration Agreements and Sexual Harassment Claims in New Jersey Now That the Ending Forced Arbitration Act is Federal Law

by Phillips & Associates

New laws, including a federal bill signed into law in March 2022, have helped to give workers harmed by sexual harassment and/or sexual assault a greater degree of power when they seek to resolve those claims. Previously, many employers had successfully moved these cases from the courts to arbitration via the enforcement of arbitration agreements that they had demanded. Now, these laws represent an opportunity for more workers to be the ones in control of deciding whether their cases go forward in a courtroom or in an arbitration setting. As with any kind of decision regarding your sexual harassment case, a knowledgeable New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer can provide critical advice about which options make the most sense for you.

A recent case from the Appellate Division court shows the impact of this new law (and others,) and represents a bit of good news for people who are now going to court to file their sexual harassment complaints.

In January 2020, P.R. and his employer signed an employment contract that said that all claims — including issues of discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation — would be subject to arbitration.

Published on: March 10, 2023

Two White School Employees in Newark Recover $1.3M Jury Award in Race Discrimination Action

by Phillips & Associates

When one hears the phrase “reverse discrimination,” it can be easy to fall into misconceptions regarding how anti-discrimination laws work. While these laws play an essential role in eliminating discrimination against traditionally marginalized and oppressed groups (such as Black people, women, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, etc.,) the intent and the goal of these laws in New Jersey goes further. The courts in this state have been clear that the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination exists to eradicate the “cancer” of discrimination in all its forms when that discrimination occurs based on a protected characteristic. So, even if you were the target of discrimination because you were White, male, straight, an American citizen, etc., you have just as much protection under the law and, with the assistance of a skilled New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer, just as much opportunity to recover compensation for the harm you suffered.

The age and race discrimination case of two North Jersey school employees was a reminder of this truth for one Essex County school system. As nj.com reported, one of the educators, A.D., was a White woman in her 60s working at a Newark high school where the student population was 90% Black. The other educator, D.S., also was a White woman in her 60s and served as the chair of the math department at a high school where the student population was 78% Latino.

In 2013, when the educators were in their 50s, they applied for vice principal positions. Both were rejected. D.S., in fact, got transferred to a different school and demoted to lunch aide, according to the lawsuit. A.D. allegedly got reassigned, which carried with it a pay cut.

Published on: February 28, 2023

An Employer’s Argument of ‘Payroll Error’ Wasn’t Enough to Stop a New Jersey Woman’s Unequal Pay Claim

by Phillips & Associates

We all want to be paid what we’re worth as demonstrated by the quality of our work output. Too many women, however, have lived experiences on the job that fell short of that lofty goal. If you are someone who has been harmed by a gender-based pay gap at your place of employment, both federal law and state law may offer potential relief. Talk to an experienced New Jersey equal pay lawyer to find out more regarding what steps you can take.

S.S. was a woman who worked as a sales manager for an Atlantic City resort. She also was someone who allegedly encountered gender-based unequal pay.

In 2020, the woman applied for the role of “Selling Manager.” The selling manager position had only been created two years prior, and the resort’s only previous selling manager had been a man. That man, T.M., had been paid both a salary and commissions. The resort selected S.S. and another woman to be its new selling managers, but neither received a base salary as part of their compensation packages. Additionally, neither woman received a specific type of commission (called a “takeover” commission) that the male selling manager had received, and neither had as many team members as the man had.