Municipality, County, State workers who are 70 years of age and older, should be made aware that their government employer can no longer force them out of their job based on their age. Amendments to the NJ Law Against Discrimination eliminated a loophole in the law which some government employers could utilize as a means to get rid of older workers and replace them with younger ones.
Prior to these Amendments, a NJ municipality, county, state agency or employer had to demonstrate that a such government employee’s mandatory retirement age have, “a manifest relationship to employment in question.” This appellation, “a manifest relationship” was a legal slippery slope, an opinion too easy for any governmental entity to allege. This appellation perpetuated negative aging myths because it was prejudice, judgment or opinion formed against older workers predicated on the public employee’s age. Prejudice in the sense of a judgment or opinion formed predicated on a person’s age is the basis of all age discrimination, which opinion proves on examination to be unrelated to the employee’s actual job performance or to be completely nonexistent.
The prior loophole in the NJ law which allowed severe and egregious economic and emotional consequences against persons because of their age, was because of the following clause.
This offending clause has since been deleted from and is no longer part of the statute: “the retirement age bears a manifest relationship to the employment in question.”
It is quite disturbing that this biased ageist opinion was part of a discrimination statute. It is more unfortunate that this legal loophole existed for many the decades in which it defined the law intended to protect against such discrimination. The current law is that mandatory retirement is only permissible if that the employer can demonstrate that, “the person in the service of the State, or of any county or municipality thereof, is unable to adequately perform the person's duties.”
No Effect on New Jersey Judges, Police Officers and Firefighters
It should be noted that this amendment does not apply to New Jersey judges, police officers and firefighters, for whom separate mandatory retirement rules may still apply. The statute for these employees states in part:
“no person other than a justice of the Supreme Court or a judge of the Superior Court pursuant to Article VI, Section VI, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, or a judge of the Tax Court, or a judge of the Office of Administrative Law or a judge of the Division of Workers' Compensation, or a member of the Division of State Police, employed in the service of the State, or of any county or municipality thereof, or a member of a police or fire department employed in the service of the State or of any county or municipality thereof, shall be required to retire upon the attainment of a particular age unless the public employer can show that the person in the service of the State, or of any county or municipality thereof, is unable to adequately perform the person's duties.”
If You Quit Your Job, You May Lose Right to Prevail in a Lawsuit
In many instances of discrimination, if you quit your job, you may lose right to prevail in a lawsuit unless you first take certain legally required measures to preserve your job while you are still employed. If you are thinking of quitting, or think you will be fired, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation to discuss your options in the safest way for you.
Let me fight for you. If you think you may have been discriminated against, contact Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law today for a free consultation. I accept discrimination cases from all over New Jersey. I have represented both public and private employees who were pushed out of jobs because of their age, including those in their 60's, 70's, and 80's, and was successful in recovering financial compensation for their emotional pain and suffering and moneys for lost wages, both for past lost wages and projected future lost wages. If you think you are being pushed out of your job because of your age, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation.
What You Can Do
I am an aggressive and compassionate employment law attorney who is experienced in successfully representing persons who were discriminated against at work. I am successful in bringing employee lawsuits against governmental entities and private employers and recovering money for victims of age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, and other discrimination.
Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law represents workers throughout the entire state, including Hackensack, Jersey City, Newark, Irvington, Orange, East Orange, Trenton, Paterson, Montclair, Elizabeth, North Brunswick, Cherry Hill, Vineland, Union, Plainfield, Hamilton Township, Lakewood, Edison, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Franklin, Lakewood, and every NJ County, including Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Essex, Monmouth, Somerset, Ocean, Union, Camden, Passaic, Morris, Gloucester, Atlantic, Burlington, Camden Counties.