Sexual Harassment Category Archives — New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog Published by New Jersey Employment Attorneys

Published on: March 24, 2023

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

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: October 24, 2022

When an Office Relationship Does — and Doesn’t — Constitute Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment Under New Jersey Law

by Phillips & Associates

While TV shows often are replete with office romances, the real world is frequently much more complicated. Relationships with coworkers can be filled with potential pitfalls, especially if the pursuer is someone with greater workplace power than the pursued. These situations too often aren’t entirely consensual but rather involve explicit or implicit promises/threats about the benefits of accepting or the harms of refusing. When that happens, you may have been the victim of illegal conduct, so you should discuss your situation with a knowledgeable New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer.

Certainly, members of the legal community should be well aware of the laws against sexual harassment in New Jersey but, regrettably, law offices throughout this state are not immune to instances of alleged sexual harassment, as Law360’s report about one recent East Brunswick sexual harassment case highlights.

The woman, M.B., was a paralegal for a male attorney from March 2019 to July 2022. During the paralegal’s second year of employment, she and the attorney engaged in a sexual relationship for four months. The relationship was entirely mutually consensual. The paralegal ended the affair in November 2020.

Published on: September 23, 2022

Mixing Business With (Strip Club) Pleasure: A Problem that Remains Persistent, Including in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

Grace Hopper, a pioneering computer scientist and rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, is credited with having observed that the “hardest thing in the world is to change the minds of people who keep saying, ‘But we’ve always done it this way.’ These are days of fast changes and if we don’t change with them, we can get hurt or lost,” the admiral told a Baltimore newspaper. That reality rings true for employers and supervisors who think that “we’ve always done it this way” works as some sort of immunity against liability for sexual harassment. It doesn’t and, if you’ve endured harassment from an “old boys club” who told you “we’ve always done it this way,” then you should get in touch with an experienced New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer to discuss your situation.

One area where too many employers seem to have a blind eye to the need for change is the issue of mixing business and strip clubs. Most recently, a female employee scored an important federal court victory in her sexual harassment case against her employer, a New Jersey corporation that provided “products and services to mobile network operators.”

The employee, B.C., alleged that the employer’s president and chief technology officer twice attempted to kiss her. Additionally, her supervisor took clients to strip clubs and engaged in discussions of his strip club trips that made B.C. “uncomfortable.”

Published on: June 30, 2022

Dealing With Non-Disparagement Agreements as Part of Settling a Discrimination or Harassment Case in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

Workers who have endured discrimination or harassment on the job deal with it in a wide array of different ways. Some survivors of harassment and discrimination feel that an important part of the process is speaking publicly about what happened to them. What sometimes confines them, though, is if they signed something called a “non-disparagement agreement” as part of the settlement of their civil lawsuit. These agreements, however, sometimes leave openings that may permit you to speak out and remain in compliance with your contractual obligations. Whether negotiating a settlement, reviewing a non-disparagement agreement, or determining when and how to speak out, a skilled New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer can help to make wise choices.

Recently, a former police sergeant in Monmouth emerged successful in precisely this kind of case. The employee, C.S., allegedly was the target of sexual harassment and sex discrimination at work. Both C.S. and E.G., another female officer on the force, filed sex discrimination lawsuits in 2013. The sides settled the cases in 2014. The department agreed to promote both women to the rank of sergeant, making them the only female sergeants on the force.

However, the women allegedly experienced more harassment and discrimination and more lawsuits ensued. C.S. settled her 2016 lawsuit in July 2020. That second settlement included a “non-disparagement agreement.”

Published on: April 22, 2022

Recognizing All of the Essential Elements of Successful Sex Discrimination or Sexual Harassment Case in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

Sometimes, a case where a discrimination plaintiff loses can be just as instructive (or even more so) than an outcome where a discriminated worker was successful in court. Much like how the old TLC show “What Not to Wear” educated views about fashion by highlighting others’ faux pas, an unsuccessful case can be a “cautionary tale” of a sort, illustrating what not to do. One of the best ways you can ensure your discrimination case doesn’t get wiped out by a legal faux pas is by ensuring you’ve retained a skilled New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer to represent you.

L.B.’s gender discrimination case was one of those lawsuits that roundly failed. She worked at a bar in Morristown where the atmosphere was irreverent, and workers frequently joked with one another. Supervisory individuals engaged in this, as well.

One of the bar’s owners allegedly called L.B.by “names used to describe a person with an oversized posterior.” (The court did not specify those names.) Those nicknames appeared in place of L.B.’s given name on the weekly work schedule and, sometimes, on the woman’s pay envelopes. The nicknames may have been facetious or intentionally inaccurate, as L.B. weighed only 110 pounds and stood 5’2″.

Published on: March 10, 2022

A Federal Judge Rules that a Single Occurrence of ‘Butt-Smacking’ Can Be Enough to Substantiate a Hostile Work Environment Claim

by Phillips & Associates

For some, the hostile work environment you experience at your job is a seemingly daily grind. The harassment keeps happening over and over… and over. For others, their harassment is something different. It happened only one time but that one time was something incredibly egregious like an uninvited sexual grabbing, squeezing, slapping, groping… or worse. Be aware that, even if that is the only instance of harassment you endured, you can still sue and win. Even a single incident can be enough if it was sufficiently severe. To find out if you have a case, talk to an experienced New York City sexual harassment lawyer.

D.B. was one of those people in the “not pervasive but severe” category of hostile work environments.

She was a senior director of global market access and had worked for her employer (plus its predecessor) for 16 years. Then, in September 2017, while attending a work conference in Canada, she encountered her company’s president and CEO of global specialty medicines at a cocktail reception. Seeking to introduce her subordinate to the CEO, the director approached the man. They spoke for a few minutes then, as D.B. turned to walk away, the CEO slapped her on the rear.

Published on: February 21, 2022

Sexting, Supervisors, and Sexual Harassment Law in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

Modern technology – including smartphones – has fostered many wonderful advancements, including work-related ones. It also, however, has come with drawbacks. One is that many workers feel like they’re “on the clock” or “on-call” 24/7. Another is even more harmful – and that drawback regards sexual harassment. These days, a supervisor or coworker who seeks to harass likely can do it anywhere, anytime via your phone. Inappropriate comments, jokes, or images sent from a supervisor or coworker via texts, social media direct messages (“DMs”), or emails, can potentially make for a successful sexual harassment case, even if that activity happened in the hours outside work. If that’s happened to you, a knowledgeable New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer can provide you with customized advice based on your specific situation.

S.J. was allegedly one of those workers. She worked as a legal assistant for a very large law firm with offices in New York and New Jersey. One of the male attorneys at her office (in Morristown) allegedly sent her a lengthy array of inappropriate text messages. The texts, which allegedly numbered more than 100, included both verbal content (one message discussed kissing the woman’s intimate areas and another suggested that the pair engage in intercourse in the office of the woman’s boss) and visual content (a picture of the man’s private parts in a state of arousal.)

The woman eventually pursued a federal Title VII case for sexual harassment in the federal court for New Jersey. Very recently, the woman won an important battle to include a censored depiction of the man’s nude photo as an exhibit in her sexual harassment case, despite strong opposition from the employer, the ABA Journal reported.

Published on: February 14, 2022

How Your Employer’s Inadequate Investigation into Your Sexual Harassment Complaint May Give You Extra Legal Options for Recovery in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

If a coworker has sexually assaulted or otherwise sexually harassed you on the job, you almost certainly have certain expectations of your employer. You likely expect that, after you submit a complaint notifying your employer of the assault or harassment, the employer will initiate an investigation that is prompt, diligent, and thorough. If your employer doesn’t do that, then they may be liable to you under both the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and federal law, so you certainly want to get in touch with a knowledgeable New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer about your situation.

Having that skilled legal representation on your side can be crucial. That’s because there’s a lot that goes into litigating a case like this successfully. You have to amass the witness testimony and documentary evidence necessary to prove your claims. Additionally, in some cases, you may need an expert witness to explain certain things to the jury. An expert may provide essential evidence by shedding light on some relevant topic that is outside the knowledge base of your average juror.

The hostile work environment case of a South Jersey woman was one of those times. The plaintiff, L.M., was a patient care technician at a dialysis center in Washington Township. The woman’s hostile work environment claim alleged that a male coworker sexually assaulted her, that she reported it to the employer but that, even after that complaint, the employer failed to take the appropriate measures, thereby creating a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Published on: February 7, 2022

Achieving Success With Your New Jersey Hostile Work Environment Case, Even if There Were No Witnesses to Your Harassment

by Phillips & Associates

Most all of us have heard the phrase “he said she said.” It often conjured to mind scenarios where there’s little evidence available other than the statements made by the individuals involved. When your “he said she said” incident is also a case of sexual harassment or sex discrimination where you were the victim, the whole thing may seem incredibly daunting. Don’t be intimidated, though. Instead, get in touch with a New Jersey sex discrimination lawyer who can help you map the best route forward.

One reason not to despair is something called a “motion for summary judgment.” This is something that the defense often does and, when successful, it gets your case thrown out of court before ever making it to trial. When unsuccessful, though, it opens many doors, including giving you your day in court and also, many times, leading the defense to approach settlement (if you potentially are open to a settlement) in a more fair, reasonable, and meaningful way.

“He said she said” cases are often prime examples of the kinds of cases in which the defense is not entitled to a summary judgment. Take, for example, the case of A.M., a port authority locomotive engineer who alleged that she endured a sex-related hostile work environment.