Current Events

Certain hot topics in the news have a way of becoming a topic of discussion in the workplace and employees wonder if they have a right to discuss these matters under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or if they can be fired for discussing politics at work.

First, much of this depends on whether you work for a private or a public employer. The First Amendment was written to restrict the government’s curtailing one’s right of freedom of speech but not on a private employer’s imposing restrictions of freedom of speech on its employees as a condition of employment.

Top tier gay executives still report discrimination even with established corporate anti-discrimination policies and procedures. For the past decade, the press has reported the filing of lawsuits by top tier corporate executives who alleged they were discriminated against because they were gay or that their corporate employer retaliated against them after they complained about discrimination. One such most recent case was filed this month in the Supreme Court in the State of New York by the former employee, the plaintiff, against Goldman Sachs. According to the complaint filed by the plaintiff, he alleges that he was a Vice-President at Goldman Sachs, an 18-year employee, and one of the most senior LGBTQ leaders. He alleged he was subjected to homophobic treatment, was told that he sounded, “too gay” and was told, “What’s wrong with you, do you act this way because you are gay?” He alleges that in spite of his exemplary employment record and accomplishments, he was fired in retaliation for his complaining about the discrimination.

Employers sometimes shuffle a blaze of papers in front of an employee and tell him/her that all employees must sign the papers as a condition of continued employment. One of the papers they sometimes push employees to sign is a paper saying that if they decide to file a lawsuit, that they consent to a certain statute of limitations to file the lawsuit. Their suggested statute of limitations is invariably shorter than that permissible by law; why else would the employer want it?

The “Statute of Limitations” to file a lawsuit is the time frame set by legislation where a person needs to file the lawsuit to enforce rights or seek redress after injury or damage. The policy underlying such enactment of laws regarding statutes of limitations, concerns the belief that there is a point beyond which a prospective defendant should no longer need to worry about the possible commencement in the future of a lawsuit against him. There are also judicial evidentiary concerns, that the law rightly or wrongly may disfavor older uncorroborated allegations and evidence, and that no one should be able to sit on their rights for an unreasonable amount of time without forfeiting his/her claims.

While many (though typically not women) were shocked at the breadth of workplace sexual harassment, the “#Metoo” movement which has been in the news for the last few years, the New Jersey legislature in response took action to attempt to curb the “hushing up” of victims of sexual predators in the workplace. New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy signed into law Bill S-121 on March 18, 2019, which attempts to despoil non-disclosure agreements in settlements in sexual harassment claims and other claims brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The movement of “#Metoo” was motivated by the sexual harassment victims but had the unintended effect of despoiling non-disclosure agreements in all types of settlements of employment discrimination matters brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) , i.e.

Many employers have issued rules and warnings to employees that they are prohibited from discussing their salary with other employees. I, myself, worked for employers who had that rule in the workplace. Sometimes, employers have been so bold as to mandate that this is a company rule in the official Employee Handbook. In New Jersey, an employer's prohibition against employees comparing their pay and compensation with one another became illegal as of July 1, 2018, the date the

When NJ truck drivers, office workers, medical staff and others are forced by the employer to work long hours as a condition of their job, the employee may wonder if this is legal. Driver fatigue and public safety are an issue for all. State and Federal Codes and Regulations regarding driving were written not just for the safety of the driver, but for others on the road and the public in general. If you are a NJ truck driver and your employer forced you to drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty*; or your employer does not schedule your work so that a driver may drive only during a period of 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off duty*; or your employer forces you to drive more than  a total of 11 hours during the 14-hour period specified above;* and you complained and you employer retaliated against you, you may have a valid whistleblower claim. [ *Note: quoted from statute in effect on May 8, 2019, and may be subject to change at any time.

At times, it is just one person who creates a hostile work environment for older workers.

In other situations, the age discrimination is the result of a corporate mindset. This might happen when there has been a change of management who wants new “branding” and wants to replace older workers with younger ones as a business strategy. Businesses have become more legally sophisticated over the years and are less likely to have a mass termination of the older staff and quickly hirer younger replacements to promote a new branding. In attempts to avoid being sued for age discrimination, they sometimes set out on a course to later attempt to prove that it was dissatisfaction with the employee’s quality of work or some other bogus reason that the termination decision was reached by management, and that age had nothing to do with the termination.

New Jersey's Wynona Moore Lipman was known as the original Steel Magnolia throughout the NJ legislature and was the first Black woman elected as a New Jersey Senator. Born in 1923 in Georgia as Wynona Moore, but settling when an adult in New Jersey, she acted with calm reserve but never backed down from a political battle for just causes, which earned her her reputation as the "Steel Magnolia". She held ranking positions on important Senate committees, including the budget and appropriations committees and those dealing with a broad range of human services. She is distinguished as being the longest-serving member of the Senate, serving nine terms representing the 29th Legislative District. She was an out spoken advocate in particular for protection for women and children.

An employee’s reporting of a business “irregularity” could be considered legally “protected conduct” in some instances.

Whistleblower claims under New Jersey Law and certain federal laws can include instances when an employee reports certain business “irregularities” to their employer and then in response the employer commits what is known as an “adverse act” against the employee, such as a demotion, transfer to less desirable position and distant location, or firing. An employee’s reporting of business irregularities may be legally “protected conduct” in some instances thereby prohibiting the employer from retaliating against the employee.

Whistleblower retaliation litigation can be lengthy and complex. This firm, Hope A.

Jessie Redmon Fauset was a New Jersey native and an innovator who advocated for new models for black racial characters in literature. As a female black editor, writer and educator in the first third of the 20^th century, her literary talents impacted the evolving 1920's Harlem Renaissance to elevate and expand public perceptions of the American Black experience to images beyond that of a life of servitude. Decades ahead of other authors, she was a literary neoteric whose themes frequently focused on giving a voice to black working professionals, which was generally a new concept to the broad American public at that time. Her writings not only portrayed nuances of difficult black middle class daily struggles, but the reality of a wider spectrum of black life styles in the 1920's. Her authorship gave hope and promise to blacks who had not yet made it to the middle class and addressed issues of race and feminism.

April is Black Women's History Month. New Jersey was home to innumerable black women who dedicated their lives toward the betterment of life for others and changed the course of history. One such Black heroine is Madeline A. Williams. Her rise from humble beginnings in the South to becoming the first Black woman elected to the New Jersey Legislature is remarkable and inspiring.