New Jersey and federal law both provide strong protection against employment discrimination based on ethnic origin, race and religion, except that the prohibitions against religious discrimination are subject to certain exceptions for religious entities. See US Supreme Court Decides Religious Exemptions for Certain Teachers.
The Federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, provides protection against such discrimination to an employee who works for an employer with 15 or more employees. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination also protects employees from such discrimination, but there is no minimum number of employees required- unlike Title VII, the NJLAD protects people who work for companies with less than 15 employees.
Recent events in world news and media reporting have indicated an increase in ethnic origin and religious discrimination such as prejudice against Muslims and antisemitism occurring in numerous entities such as colleges and other institutions. Places of employment are not immune from this type of discrimination. Places of employment that allow discrimination and a hostile work environment based on ethnicity or religion includes educational institutions, such as the widely reported case recently settled by a university in New York City, whose employees who were Jewish, experienced antisemitism at the university. Bias against certain ethnicities and against people perceived to be adhering to a certain religion that is the dominant religion in a certain country, can occur even when the person does not follow that religion. This occurs when an employer or supervisor mistakenly assumes that because of the employee’s ethnic origin from a country where a certain religion is dominant, that the employee therefore must follow that religion, practice that faith, or observe those religious practices. For example, this may occur when the person’s ethnic origin is from Haiti, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East or Asia, although the employee does not follow the religious practices of the dominate religion in that region.
If you are an employee whose employer has begun discriminating against you because of your ethnic origin, religion, race or color, 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. I accept cases from every county in NJ. Call today for a free consultation.
Discriminatory employers who want to terminate employees for illegal reasons, may unfairly evaluate the employee’s work, and place them on an undeserved PIP. See NJ Employment Attorney, I Was Put on a PIP: the Dangers of a PIP. Unfortunately, unscrupulous supervisors will sometimes use harsh and bogus Employee Performance Evaluations to lay the groundwork of a later termination.
ETHNIC ORIGIN HARASSMENT MAY BE INTERTWINED WITH RELIGION AND/OR RACE HARASSMENT - Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb 481 U.S. 615 (1987), a Case of Harassment and Destruction of Property Against Followers of Judaism
In Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, heard by the US Supreme Court, the outside walls of a synagogue in Silver Spring, Maryland, were painted with anti-Semitic slogans, phrases, and symbols. The congregation and some individual members brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging that the desecrators of the synagogue had violated 42 USCS 1982, which guarantees all citizens of the United States the same right as is enjoyed by "white citizens" to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. The District Court dismissed the claim of the synagogue’s congregation and individuals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, holding that discrimination against Jews is not racial discrimination, and 42 USCS 1982 was not intended to apply to situations in which a plaintiff is not a member of a racially distinct group but is merely perceived to be so by defendants.
The United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, reversed the dismissal by the Court of Appeals and remanded the case to a lower court, allowing the case to continue. In an opinion by White, J., expressing the unanimous view of the Court, it was held that:
(1) To make out a charge of racial discrimination under 42 USCS 1982, it is necessary to allege not only that the defendants were motivated by racial animus, but that such animus was directed toward the kind of group that Congress intended to protect when it passed the statute, and,
(2) Regardless of whether Jews are considered to be a separate race by modern standards, Jews are not foreclosed from stating a cause of action under 42 USCS 1982 against other members of what is considered to be part of the white or Caucasian race, since Jews constituted a group of people that was considered to be a distinct race at the time 42 USCS 1982 was adopted and were hence within the intended protection of the statute.
EMPLOYEE WITH ETHNIC ORIGIN IN IRAQ - St. Francis College v. Al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 (1987) - a case brought by a United State Citizen Born in Iraq
In another case, St. Francis College v. Al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 addresses race and ethnic origin. In this matter, a U.S. citizen born in Iraq, filed a complaint against his employer for discrimination based in part on 42 U.S.C.S. § 1981. The district court dismissed the case, finding that 42 U.S.C.S. § 1981 did not reach claims of discrimination based on Arabian ancestry. The appellate court disagreed and held that employee had alleged discrimination based on race and that, although under current racial classifications Arabs were considered Caucasians, he could maintain his 42 U.S.C.S. § 1981 claim. The employer sought further judicial review at the Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court agreed with appeals court and concluded that, based on the history of § 1981, Congress intended to protect from discrimination identifiable classes of persons who were subjected to intentional discrimination solely because of their ancestry or ethnic characteristics. The Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals, holding that 42 U.S.C.S. § 1981 reached discrimination against an individual because he or she was genetically part of an ethnically distinctive subgrouping of homo sapiens. Despite the fact that under current racial classifications Arabs were considered Caucasians, the employee born in Iraq had alleged discrimination based on race and could maintain his discrimination claim. You may read in further depth about the Al-Khazraji case in NJ Employment Attorney, Discrimination Based on Religion or Ethnicity Frequently Encompasses Other Discrimination.
Employment ethnic origin and religious discrimination is prohibited when it because you are affiliated with a Jewish synagogue, Christian church, Muslim Mosque, Hindu temple or other such place of worship. See New Jersey Religion Discrimination Lawyer Religion Discrimination and Religion Harassment. An employer cannot have a policy or practice of only hiring applicants or promoting employees of a certain religion or excluding them from those positions because of their ethnic origin or religion. Again, as to religious discrimination, there is an exception for employers who are religious entities. US Supreme Court Decides Religious Exemptions for Certain Teachers. You may also review Supremes Uphold Employer’s Religious Exemption to ACA.
DEFINITIONS RELATIVE TO DISCRIMINATION
In the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination at § 10:5-5, Definitions relative to discrimination, it states “Race” is inclusive of traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture, hair types, and protective hairstyles. See My NJ Employer Doesn’t Like My Hairstyle, CROWN Act.
The federal law defines “religion” or creed in employment as prohibiting religious discrimination in all aspects of religious observance and practice. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination’s and Title VII’s protection extends to all aspects of employment such as hiring, firing, compensation, promotion, and other working conditions.
NO HARASSMENT
Media reports have indicated increased incidents of harassment against persons of certain ethnic backgrounds within many aspects of the culture, i.e., travel, immigration, housing etc. See New Jersey Ethnic Discrimination Lawyer Ethnic Discrimination and Ethnic Harassment.
In the employment context, an employer cannot condone any act of harassment of employees because of their ethnic origin or religion, which harassment could include:
Disparaging remarks based on the person’s protected class,
Posting negative discriminatory jokes about the employee on social media,
Egregious ethic epitaphs associated with a certain ethnicity,
Allow joking or mocking of someone’s ethnic background,
Belittlement and ridicule of a person’s religious practices such as hair or dress codes.
As in all discrimination that is based on other protected classes, such as race gender or gender harassment, a single off-hand stray remark, standing alone, may not be sufficient to trigger an illegal harassment discrimination claim. However, a particularly severe and egregious comment in some contexts, particularly if made by a supervisor, may suffice for a hostile work environment claim. See Extreme Race Discrimination including Nooses, KKK Emblems, and Racist Names at Work.
New Jersey Race Discrimination Lawyer Race Discrimination.
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 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.