Disability Discrimination

Employees may sense that something is wrong in their workplace in terms of the employer’s non-discrimination practices when the employer seems to have no illegal bias at all. Nevertheless, their eyes may tell a different story and discern a distinct and irrational imbalance in the workplace demography as to sex, race, age, etc. While the employer may have no intent to discriminate, an employer’s policies that appear on their face to be neutral could curtail the hiring, promotion and retention of certain protected classes of person, or lead to disparate impact discrimination. See NJ Sex Discrimination Attorney, I’m a Female Executive Unfairly Evaluated.

Disparate Impact Discrimination, What Is It? And Is it Legal?

Unlike most discrimination claims, disparate impact claims do not require proof of a discriminatory motive.

Whistleblowing on illegal acts of your employer can entail risks. Particularly when it is an upper-level manager who does the whistleblowing, the employee may fear it is tantamount to disloyalty, resulting in career building suicide, and be hesitant to whistleblow even though they feel they are ethically obligated to do so.

If the whistleblower first follows statutory mandated steps, employees who object to an employer’s illegal acts have statutory rights. Retaliation against a complaining New Jersey employee is prohibited under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act §§ 34:19-1 — 34:19-14, (CEPA). New Jersey upper-level corporate managers can whistleblow on their company when they reasonably believe the company is engaging in illegal activities, violating legal regulations, or endangering public health and safety.

If you are a New Jersey employee and your employer denied your request for a reasonable accommodation for your disability to allow you to keep working, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation. We have locations in Northern, Central, Southern and Western NJ to meet with clients and accept cases from all over the state. This law firm has successfully represented numerous employees who had visible or hidden disabilities which were temporary, permanent, or intermittent, who had their rights violated, and was successful in obtaining for them the reasonable accommodations required to enable them to remain employed, recovered money for pain and suffering; and was successful in financial remuneration for lost wages, both past and future lost wages, in termination cases. DON’T SIT ON YOUR RIGHTS! Contact us today for a free consultation.

ACCOMMODATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR PERMANENT, INTERMITTENT, OR TEMPORARY, VISIBLE OR HIDDEN DISABILITY.

Some employers will fire an employee before the beginning of the new year alleging the employee’s job was being eliminated in a “restructuring”. Devious employers, to mask their illegal discrimination in the firing decision, will sometimes choose the end of the year to terminate the employee, citing an alleged business restructure plan to take effect in January, for the sole purpose of bolstering their bogus allegation that the employee’s position is being eliminated for bone fide business reasons.

If you think your employer may have chosen you to terminate in a bogus “Job Elimination” because of an illegal bias, such as because of your age, race, disability etc., or because you complained at about what you believed to be the employer’s unsafe or illegal practices, you may be right. See

An employee who whistleblows on fraud committed against the Federal Government, such as a healthcare worker reporting Medicare fraud or an employee working for a contractor who contracts with the US government, possibly may be able to bring a claim under the False Claims Act,  and by filing a Qui Tam Complaint may be able to receive a percentage of the government’s recovered funds under what is known as the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq. Non-employees who report such fraud on the Federal Government may also file Qui Tam Complaints.

When NJ employees think of whistleblower claims, they may commonly think of the claims filed under New Jersey Conscientious Protection Act. See New Jersey Whistleblower Laws Attorney. These arise when an employer retaliates against an employee reported or objected or refused to participate in any activity, policy or practice they believed to be illegal. To read more, see NJ Employment Attorney, Auditor Employees have Whistleblower Protection.

Employees and Non-Employees and the False Claims Act

However, employees who have knowledge their employer is committing fraud against the United States Government, such as Medicare fraud or contractors fraudulently billing the US government for work never done, possibly may bring a claim under the Federal False Claims Act (FCA), and receive a percentage of recovered funds under what is known as the qui tam provisions.

Older workers with a disability are too frequently illegally discriminated against in employment. This happens due to a two-fold prejudice: ageism coupled with ableism. Ableism is a set of values or beliefs that devalue and discriminate against persons with disabilities based on the belief that persons without disabilities are more capable and valuable than persons with disabilities. Ageism is a predisposition and misconception that older employees are not as productive and possess less capability to take on new tasks or acquire new skills than their younger counterparts.

If you think you are being pushed out of your job because of your age and/or disability, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation.

Employees may or may not be cognizant that their employer is pressuring them to resign. They often will not recognize the full brunt of the employer’s intention until their employer places them on a “Performance Improvement Plan, commonly referred to as a “PIP”. If the employer presents the PIP in good faith, a PIP can be a formal document with the intention of helping employees improve their performance at work. It outlines an employee's performance issues and sets goals to be achieved. It is presented as a means to help employees who aren't meeting job goals or expectations to perform better.

Workers sometimes experience a disconnect between their voting rights and the status of their employment. Workers who vote, are choosing who will draft and pass legislation that maintains, restricts or expands their rights as employees and other civil rights.

When workers cast their ballots for the persons they want to have represent their interests in state and federal governments, they are voting for the representatives of their choice who have the power to ultimately draft, promote and vote on passing Federal and State laws that expand their rights as workers and other civil rights. Voting is serious business and is an opportunity that should not be passed up for any reason. A decision to refrain from voting for the federal and state representatives of your choosing may be giving a “pass” to future or current state or federal legislation that will restrict your rights.

If you asked your employer for a reasonable accommodation that would allow you to keep working and your employer denied you the accommodation, it is possible your employer is violating the law. If your employer is discriminating against you because you are disabled, you should contact this office today for a free consultation.

What You Need to Submit to Your Employer

If you are disabled and would be able to do the essential functions of your job with a reasonable accommodation, you should put such request in writing, stating the nature of your disability and why you need this accommodation, and additionally accompany your letter with another letter from your doctor stating the nature of your disability, and requesting what accommodation is needed to allow you to keep working at your job.

This letter should be served on your supervisor and the head of HR, unless your employee handbook directs you to submit this request to a different person, in which case, follow the company rules. Maintain proof that you served these requests for an accommodation, example - as by printing out the email transmission.