Studies have documented that individuals are discriminated against for their height or weight in many aspects of their life, professionally and otherwise. Unfortunately, and surprisingly to many, under the current state law in New Jersey, weight and height discrimination in employment is permissible. Many individuals suffer such discrimination related to their weight or height because a person’s “weight” or “height” is not a designated characteristic that is protected from employment discrimination under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) as are other characteristics such as race, age, sex etc. However, that may change. The New Jersey Senate passed a bill, S1602, seeking to amend the LAD, which would prohibit height and weight discrimination in employment by adding weight and height as classes protected from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
This bill is not yet the law but is waiting passage in the New Jersey Assembly. This bill passed in the NJ Senate on February 12, 2024 by a 22-14 vote, and on the same date, the bill was received in the NJ Assembly and referred to the Judiciary Committee for its companion bill. The bill amends the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on height and weight, adding the characteristics of height and weight to the existing list of protected classes, which includes “race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, disability or nationality.” The Attorney General and the Division on Civil Rights will have the responsibilities of to enforce these new amendments, aiming to protect individuals from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Don’t sit on your rights. Call today for a free consultation. If you think your employer has begun discriminating against you, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation. I have represented public and private employees who were discriminated against and was successful in recovering financial compensation for their emotional pain and suffering and moneys for past lost wages and projected future lost wages. Call today for a free consultation.
There is an urgency to this bill’s passage as many individuals are deprived of equal opportunities because of discrimination based on their weight or height... The Senate’s amendments insert "height” or “weight" into numerous sections of the statute, mandating that discrimination based on these attributes is unlawful unless it qualifies as a bona fide occupational qualification and safety reasons, respectively. The text of the senate bill may be viewed here.
If this bill becomes law, New Jersey will be the second state after Michigan to ban discrimination in employment on the basis of height or weight. This bill is modeled after the civil rights law in Michigan, which prohibits discrimination in employment, education, housing, public accommodations, and public service on the basis of height or weight, among other reasons for discrimination. This bill prohibits discrimination on the basis of height or weight in all conditions of employment, hiring and promotions.
Exceptions for Bone Fide Occupational Qualifications and Safety Reasons
The bill S1602 provides exceptions for employment and public accommodation only for bone fide occupational qualifications and safety reasons. As an example only, there may be certain criteria in some employment positions that require an individual to have a certain level of physical strength or height. However, it is expected that adding these new amendments will require an employer to prove that a weight or height restriction are a true bone fide occupational qualification or pose a safety hazard. A perceived inability to perform one’s job duties may be grounded in prejudice and have no basis in fact. See New Jersey Age Discrimination Lawyer.
A perceived inability to do one’s job is an issue that arises in another type of employment discrimination- perceived disability discrimination. See NJ Employment Attorney, Employer Thinks Employee Cannot Do Job, a Perceived Disability. These discrimination cases cite back to Andersen v. Exxon Co., U.S.A., 89 N.J. 483 (1982), a 1982 NJ Supreme Court case which is still the law and often relied upon in cases involving perceived disability and employment discrimination. In that case, the Court dealt with issue of a perception of disability, where the employer, prematurely and without evidence, concluded that a particular condition may render an individual unable to perform the job. In Andersen v. Exxon Co., U.S.A., the Court affirmed the lower court's decision holding that employer discriminated against an employment applicant, holding that the employer did not have a reasonable basis for denying him employment, although he had a record of having a disability. New Jersey Disability Discrimination Lawyer
Bone Fide Occupational Qualifications. Safety, and Business Necessity
The issues of bone fide occupational qualifications, safety, and business necessity arise in many situations. See New Jersey Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer. In cases alleging illegal Disparate Impact Discrimination based on one’s sex, stereotypes based on whether one is male or female, which stereotypes have no basis in fact, may disparately negatively impact one sex over the other. See Bergen County, New Jersey Sex Discrimination Lawyer. An example is wrongly assuming a woman cannot do a traditional man’s job, which is rarely - if ever -- true. In that situation, a job requirement for a store clerk working in a building contractor’s supply store, may be that they be able to lift 85-pound pails three feet high to stack on a hand-truck and load onto customers’ trucks would likely disproportionally negatively affect females more than males and disproportionately impact, screen out, female applicants. However, if lifting 85 pound pails to stack on a hand-truck and load onto customer’s trucks is a regular ongoing, substantial, essential daily function of a clerk’s job, then an 85 pound lifting requirement might be considered consistent with business necessity. However, when a grocery clerk position requires that a grocery store clerk be able to lift 85 pound crates and boxes, but in reality, the stores’ crates and boxes are never over 30 pounds, then an 85 pound lifting requirement is not consistent with the store’s business necessity and not a bone fide occupational qualification. See New Jersey Employment Attorney, Is this Discrimination in My Workplace? Disparate Impact.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
I have represented public and private employees who were illegally discriminated against 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 your employer is illegally discriminating against you, you should contact this office immediately 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.
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 handing in a resignation letter, or think you will be fired (or have already been terminated), you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation to discuss your options.
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.