Some persons become disheartened with current affairs and when it comes to voting, they think, “Why bother?” They may believe that voting has no direct personal bearing on the status of their employment rights or future employment opportunities.
But as evidenced by the passage of Federal and State employment laws passed in the last ten years and prior, (see below) voting for candidates who support civil rights does affect rights of employees. When persons cast their vote for their elected officials, they are voting for the representatives who have the power to ultimately draft, promote and vote on passing Federal and State laws that expand employee rights. These are civil rights laws that establish rights for those who are members of a protected class, such as race, age and ethnicity. The laws also define the classes themselves that are legally protected from job discrimination. Your elected representatives also draft, promote and vote to pass legislation to establish the minimum wage, overtime rules, and other wage payment and protections. A decision to non-vote in essence may be giving a “pass” on whether or not to expand your employment rights.
Voting Affects Your Rights as an Employee
Voting for representatives of your choice ultimately affects your rights as an employee as to:
Wage and Hour Laws,
Fair Labor Standards, and
Right to Work in an Environment Free of Discrimination.
Federal Representatives and Your Employment Civil Rights
There are 435 Representatives in the US House of Representatives and 100 Senators in the Senate. Out of the total, New Jersey elects twelve US Representatives in the House, and two Senators in the Senate. An example of an important pending Federal Bill to expand employment rights for racial minorities is called, “The Ending Forced Arbitration of Race Discrimination Act”. This Act is needed because many employers require prospective employees during the employment application process, to sign arbitration agreements, whereby they legally sign away their rights to file a lawsuit in a court of law for any dispute arising out of their employment. Employers may also require existing employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of remaining employed. Arbitrations do not favor the employee in an employment dispute; the process favors the employer which is why so many employers are requiring them as a condition of employment.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and U.S. Representative Colin Allred (D-TX) introduced this legislation that would end the practice of forcing individuals who have experienced racial discrimination at work into arbitration. This bill, if it passes both houses of Congress and gets signed by the President will give workers who have suffered racism at work, the choice to go to court rather than be forced into an arbitration proceeding. This Bill mandates that no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to a case which is filed under Federal, Tribal, State, or local law and relates to the race. President Biden has indicated he will sign this bill if it passes both Houses. The full text of the Bill can be found here.
Voting for the presidential candidate of your choice is important because, among numerous other important reasons, the President can sign a bill into law, veto it, or can influence the wording of the bill itself. The veto power does not give the President the power to amend or alter the content of legislation. The President only has the ability to accept the Act as passed by Congress or reject an entire act passed by Congress. The President, however, can influence and shape legislation by a threat of a veto. By threatening a veto, the President can persuade legislators to alter the content of the bill to be more acceptable to the President.
NJ State Representatives and Your Employment Civil Rights
Similarly, on the state level, when NJ employees vote for their state representatives in the NJ Senate and General Assembly, they are casting their ballot as to who will write and promote civil rights and employees’ rights as well as determining the Governor who ultimately will or will not sign the legislation passed by both houses. The Legislature's main job is to enact laws. Which government representatives you choose will determine what types of laws will be proposed for your benefit and your employee rights. The NJ Senate has 40 Senators, and the NJ General Assembly has 80 Representatives. One senator and two assembly members are elected from each of the 40 districts of New Jersey.
An examples of important state legislation passed into law that expand employee rights are Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. This NJ law is the most aggressive equal pay law in the country. It protects women and minorities from pay disparity when their job title differs from non-protected classes who do substantially similar work. This law comes down hard on employers whose workers who can prove their disparity in pay for doing substantially the same kind of work was illegally based on their protected class such as race. Another example is NJ CROWN Act. CROWN is an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”. NJ employees in New Jersey are protected from race discrimination as to hairstyles in the workplace because NJ passed its own version of the CROWN Act. Only 24 states currently have passed a version of the CROWN Act for their respective states. However, there is yet no similar Federal protection for all workers nationwide. Discrimination against natural hair is race discrimination and it is a violation of civil rights.
What You Can Do
I have successfully represented employees who were racially harassed and discriminated against and called the n-word and was successful in recovering multiple six figure moneys for them. If you are experiencing race harassment or discrimination in the workplace, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation.
I am an aggressive and compassionate employment law attorney who is experienced in successfully representing persons who were subjected to workplace discrimination. If you think you have been retaliated against for complaining about or reporting to your employer what you believe are your employer’s illegal practices or a racially hostile work environment, it is essential for you to contact an experienced, competent and successful race discrimination attorney who will be aggressive about enforcing your rights as soon as possible.
If You Resign, You May Lose Right to Prevail in a Lawsuit
In many instances of discrimination and retaliation, if you resign, 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 resigning, or think you will be fired, or have been fired, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation to discuss your options in the safest way for you.
If you are being subjected to such unlawful workplace discrimination or believe you are being pushed out of your job, contact Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law today for a free consultation. I accept discrimination and whistleblower cases from all over New Jersey and have locations in Southern, Central and Northern NJ to meet with clients.
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.