Sexual Harassment Category Archives — Page 2 of 6 — New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog Published by New Jersey Employment Attorneys

Published on: January 10, 2022

Multiple Recent Lawsuits Highlight the Sexual Harassment Hazards Female Correctional Officers Face in New Jersey

Back in late 2018, the New York Times published an extensive piece, which laid out the many sexual harassment risks female correctional officers face, entitled “Hazing, Humiliation, Terror: Working While Female in Federal Prison.” The pervasiveness of the sexual harassment female correctional officers face is not something unique to those in the federal prison system. If you’re someone who suffered sexual harassment while working at a facility in New Jersey – be it federal or state – you can, with the aid of a skilled New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer, take your case to court and potentially recover substantial compensation via a judgment or settlement.

Based on some recent reports, it’s clear that female correctional officers in local jails here in New Jersey face similar horrors when it comes to sexual harassment perpetrated by their coworkers and supervisors as the female workers in the federal prisons do.

Back in December, the local government in Union County decided to settle a lawsuit brought by M.H., a Black female officer at the now-closed Union County Jail in Elizabeth. The 2019 complaint alleged that M.H.’s supervisor harassed her daily. Allegedly, the white male supervisor made inappropriate comments like asking M.H. to “test a mattress” with him and stating his romantic/sexual desire for Black women, tapinto.net reported.

Published on: December 16, 2021

How Your Can Win a Title VII Retaliation Claim Even if You Lost Your Underlying Discrimination or Sexual Harassment Claim

by Phillips & Associates

An experienced New Jersey hostile work environment lawyer has many tools in his/her litigation “tool bag” to help you seek justice. One of those techniques is taking all of the facts of your case, analyzing them with the utmost care, and then identifying all of the “causes of action” that you can use to seek compensation. That helps because, the more claims you have, the better your chances of success.

As an example of this, we can look out west to a recent hostile work environment case pursued under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act. Sometimes, even court cases from outside our great state of New Jersey can be highly instructive to you, a New Jersey worker contemplating legal action in this state. That’s especially true if the employment law topics driving the case are federal law issues, such as Title VII cases.

In that recent case, the plaintiffs were seven women and one man who worked in an apparel company’s warehouse in Reno, Nevada. The defendant was their employer.

Published on: November 16, 2021

A Federal Judge in New Jersey Greenlights an ESU Officer’s Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Her Employer

by Phillips & Associates

Certain employment cultures place an outsized value on refusing to report misconduct by one’s colleagues to higher command or upper supervisors. Those that do report may be at extreme risk of becoming targets within these insular cultures. Law enforcement can be one of those workplaces. An officer who reports his/her fellow officers risks being tarred as a “rat.” This is especially problematic for female officers, as many of these police departments are also male-dominated workplaces prone to sexual harassment. If you’ve suffered sexual harassment in your police job, you owe it to yourself to contact an experienced New Jersey sexual harassment lawyer and find out what steps you can take.

A sexual harassment case from Hudson County allegedly involved a distinct example of this kind of workplace in action. The plaintiff, S.M., was a female officer with the Emergency Services Unit (ESU) of a local police department.

The harassment allegedly began when a lieutenant began stating that the officer’s direct supervisor was her “boyfriend.” According to the complaint, after S.M.’s protestations, the lieutenant’s harassment only got worse. Other officers told S.M.that the lieutenant had also made comments to the supervisor, asserting that the lieutenant “hoped” S.M. was providing “real good” sexual favors.
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Published on: September 17, 2021

Holding Your New Jersey Employer Liable for the Sexual Harassment You Endured, Even if It Was Only One Incident

by Phillips & Associates

Sometimes, a hostile work environment case may involve dozens or hundreds of instances of sexual harassment. Other cases may involve an employer that blatantly turned a blind eye to the harassment and did nothing. (Still, others may involve both.) However, even if those things weren’t true in your case, you can sue and you potentially can still hold your employer liable, even if the harassment happened just once and your employer acted quickly in the harassment’s aftermath. To achieve that kind of legal success, start by getting in touch with a knowledgeable New Jersey hostile work environment lawyer.

The hostile work environment case of J.T., an office assistant at a drug counseling and treatment center in Monmouth County, makes for a good illustration. In March 2016, the clinic director organized a weekend outing to Atlantic City to celebrate the birthday of a coworker. During that trip, according to the assistant’s complaint, her supervisor supplied her with alcohol. J.T. eventually became sick and laid down, awakening later with her supervisor in bed with her.

According to the complaint, the supervisor raped J.T., as well as engaging in other oral and digital non-consensual acts with her. These acts occurred “throughout the night.” Allegedly, the supervisor boasted the next morning that he had “Cosby’d” the assistant, seemingly a clear indication that the supervisor had drugged J.T. to have sexual relations with her without her consent.

Published on: August 30, 2021

When Your ‘Informal’ Opposition to Sexual Harassment Can Still Be Enough to Trigger a Winnable Federal Retaliation Claim Under Title VII

by Phillips & Associates

In any area of the law, there are obvious cases and there are not-so-obvious cases. While a textbook or a TV show might be a good place to find examples of the former, in the real world examples of the latter are more common. This is why it pays to have a knowledgeable New Jersey employment retaliation lawyer on your side. Just because your case isn’t an obvious one does not mean that it is not a valid or winnable one (far from it.) It just means that it requires the touch of a seasoned legal professional to generate a positive result.

Retaliation cases are one area where this is very true. To win your case, you need proof that you engaged in protected activity and that you suffered an adverse employment action as a proximate result of that activity. The difference between success and defeat, then, may come down to winning the arguments about whether or not what you did was protected conduct and what your employer did was an adverse employment action. These things are often much more “shades of gray” than black-and-white.

A recent federal Title VII retaliation case involving a postal service worker shows what we mean. Allegedly, in September 2014, D.G., who was the postmaster of a post office in Bergen County, experienced an incident where a letter carrier engaged in non-consensual touching, hugging her, kissing her, and grabbing her rear.

Published on: June 29, 2021

When Failures in the Pre-Trial Discovery Process Can — and Cannot — Lead to a Dismissal of a New Jersey Discrimination or Harassment Case

by Phillips & Associates

Many ingredients go into a successful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation case. One of these is having a capable New Jersey employment lawyer who can keep your case on track and moving toward a successful resolution at a timely pace, even when the case, or perhaps even “real life” from outside the case, throws a curveball.

This is so important because allowing such “curveballs” to cause you to miss deadlines or violate rules of procedure can trigger some severe penalties, up to and including dismissal of your case.

S.P. was an example of an employee whose harassment and retaliation case almost got tossed because of problems with pre-trial discovery. S.P., who was a deputy registrar working for a city in North Jersey and also the vice president of the city employees’ “collective negotiations” unit, was fired in 2016 after 15 years of working for the city.

Published on: June 18, 2021

A New Jersey Sales Trainee Told ‘Don’t Come Back’ After Refusing to Sleep With a Manager Scores an Important Win in the Appellate Division

by Phillips & Associates

For a lot of workers who reach the point where it is necessary to file a sexual harassment lawsuit, your employer may try to defeat your case by placing the focus on what you did or did not do, instead of what your harasser did or the company failed to do. Be prepared to fight back and to win your case. An experienced New Jersey employment lawyer can be integral in helping you do exactly that.

R.M. was one of those sexually harassed workers. Not long after she started as a sales trainee at an auto dealership in Pleasantville, a sales manager began sending her text messages stating his attraction to her and asking her to “hang out” privately in the manager’s hotel room. Taking the manager’s texts as an invitation to have sex, the trainee declined.

After the trainee declined a second time – this time in person and at work – the manager allegedly told the trainee to clock out, to leave the dealership “and don’t come back.”

Published on: April 28, 2021

How to Succeed in Keeping Your State Court Sexual Harassment Lawsuit in New Jersey State Court

by Phillips & Associates

Once you’ve decided that you need to undertake a sexual harassment lawsuit in New Jersey, there will be many more vital decisions you’ll have to make. Each choice may substantially impact how much compensation you receive or may affect whether or not your case gets to trial. Given the profound importance of these decisions, make sure you have the advice you need from an experienced New Jersey employment lawyer before you make those critical selections.

One of those choices is whether to litigate in state court or federal court. As a sexual harassment plaintiff, you might decide that you’d get a fairer hearing in state court and therefore pursue your case there. Whatever the reason, if you and your legal team have selected state court, there are likely very good reasons for it, so you may need to fight aggressively to keep your case in state court.

Here’s an example of what we mean. J.L., a woman who worked at a fast-food restaurant in Old Bridge, had a male co-worker who allegedly subjected her to multiple forms of harassment, including grabbing her buttocks, putting his hands on her shoulders to pin her down in a chair, and attempting to grab her genital area as he walked past.

Published on: April 21, 2021

New Jersey Weighs Eliminating the ‘Severe or Pervasive’ Requirement of Harassment Law and Easing the Burden on Harmed Workers Who Sue

by Phillips & Associates

The law in New Jersey is frequently changing. One way changes occur is through case decisions by the Appellate Division court or the New Jersey Supreme Court. Another occurs when the state legislature decides that the law, as currently written, doesn’t reflect what the law should be, and enacts an amendment. These changes, whether via court ruling or legislative action, represent a key reason for having an experienced New Jersey employment lawyer on your side for your discrimination or harassment case. The right attorney can provide you with the benefit of both powerful legal experience and the most up-to-date knowledge of the law.

Back in 2019, one of those very important changes to statutory employment law occurred in New York. In October of that year, a critical amendment to that state’s Human Rights Law went into effect.

New York law, as modified by the 2019 bill, specifically says that “harassment need not be severe or pervasive in order for the employer to be liable.” This is a very substantial change that will make winning harassment cases much easier for harmed workers in New York in the future.

Published on: April 9, 2021

You Don’t Have to Have Endured Hollywood Movie Levels of Sexual Harassment to Succeed in Your New Jersey Lawsuit

by Phillips & Associates

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidelines state that sexual harassment can take many forms. It can be an unwanted sexual advance. It can be a request for sexual favors or punishment for failing to provide those favors. Sexual harassment can be subtle. These subtle forms can be just as harmful as egregious forms to an employee who fears losing her job if she doesn’t “play along.” If you’ve found yourself in that position, don’t suffer in silence. Instead, reach out without delay to contact an experienced New Jersey sexual harassment attorney to learn more about the legal options available to you.

Many people probably call to mind a certain image when they think of sexual harassment. The famous movie Disclosure turns 27 this year. In that film, Michael Douglas’s character is punished at work for rejecting the overt sexual advances of his supervisor (played by Demi Moore.)

As a worker in New Jersey, it is important to recognize that you do not necessarily need to prove something as severe as what happened to that fictional character to have a viable case of sexual harassment in this state. The sexual harassment case of B.B., which was settled recently according to a nj.com report, is a good example.