Discrimination

A worker who is pregnant and experiences a negative change in her employer’s attitude after disclosing her pregnancy to the employer, is experiencing three types of discrimination- sex, disability and pregnancy discrimination - rolled into one bias. If you are pregnant, protections for you exist under numerous federal and state laws. If your employer failed to renew your annual contract or terminated you after you disclosed to your employer that you are pregnant, or if upon returning from a pregnancy leave, your employer did not hold your job for you, you may be eligible for back pay, front pay and damages.

Until the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) was amended to specifically include “pregnancy” as its own protected class, lawyers bringing claims under the NJLAD had to allege sex and/or disability discrimination, because pregnancy at that time was not its own distinct class requiring protections.

Male workers who requested time off or a reasonable accommodation for a disability due to a medical condition related to their reproductive systems,  were frequently allowed a reasonable accommodation or time off for medical leave to properly deal with their disability, while  pregnant women who requested an accommodation that will allow them to maintain a healthy pregnancy, or who needed a reasonable accommodation while recovering from childbirth, were either terminated, or not had their annual contract renewed or otherwise removed from their positions based on bogus reasons given by the employer.

With few exceptions, New Jersey employees who are 80 years of age and older are entitled to the same protection from employment age discrimination as are their younger co-workers. Claims brought by employees who are 80 years of age and older are likely to increase because workers who are 80 years and older are comprising an ever-increasing share of New Jersey’s workforce. I have successfully represented octogenarians who were either terminated or being forced out of their job because of their employer’s age bias and was successful in obtaining monetary compensation for them. There are few exceptions, example, certain statutes stipulate mandatory retirement ages for some defined public employees, or in the presence of a bona fide occupational qualification- example, i.e.

NJ workers who exclusively use their own tools, be it carpentry tools or even a truck, are not necessarily independent contractors in terms of whistleblower protections. For example only, a whistleblower claim may be that a commercial driver complained about being forced to drive excess hours without sufficient break time in violation of State regulations for those holding commercial drivers licenses (CDL), and that the employer/business then retaliated against the driver for complaining. NJ workers owning their own tools of the trade, such as commercial drivers and others,  have asked me if they have a NJ Whistleblower claim under New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act, § 34:19-2 (CEPA) if their employer considers them to be an independent contractor. The employer, for numerous reasons to benefit the employer and to the detriment of the employee, sometimes purposely mis-classifies a driver or other worker to be an independent contractor rather than an employee and reports the worker’s year-end earing by way of a 1099 rather than a W-2 or pay the driver in cash. Owing your own tools of the trade, by way of example, carpentry tools if a construction worker, plumbing tools if a plumber, or even owning your own chemical transport truck that you use to transport toxic chemicals for a business, does not automatically make you an independent contractor for purposes of whistleblower protections.

Discrimination against Blacks is not being eliminated as quickly or thoroughly as federal legislation of the 1960'S had envisioned. This is true in liberal and multi-cultural New Jersey, not just the traditionally more conservative states. 

According to one US government agency, shockingly, a approximately one third of all state charges filed with it in New Jersey for year 2017 were for race discrimination.

Thankfully, many protected classes are receiving the benefits of both New Jersey State anti-discrimination statutes and Federal legislation designed to eliminate the cancer of discrimination against minorities. Unfortunately, sadly and ironically, African Americans, the group which originally inspired the Civil Rights Movement and resulting legislation of the 1960's, may experience discrimination and employment disparate treatment because of the color of their skin.

The Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), N.J.S.A. §§ 34:19-1 et al.

This year brings the 50^th Anniversary of the The Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The ADEA was signed into law in December 1967 and took effect in June 1968, 50 years ago. In spite of this long history, a US governmental agency which conducted a recent study on age discrimination in employment, issued a report that in spite of federal and state laws that prohibit age discrimination, approximately 97% percent of employees who experienced age discrimination on the job never reported the discrimination to their employer nor to any government agency.

The release of this shocking statistic however does not come as shocking news to many older New Jersey employees who regularly may be held to a higher standard, assigned heavier workloads, and receive lower wages than their younger and less experienced co-workers.

The results of this study also found that older workers are still stigmatized by unfounded assumptions about age and ability in spite of the fact that statistically older workers today are healthier and working and living longer and are far more educated than older workers of past generations.

Women, blacks and other minorities are sometimes paid less than other co-workers if their employment position has a different name even if they are doing substantially similar work to others who are paid at a higher rate. Starting July 1, 2018, New Jersey employers must pay women, blacks and other protected classes the same as their other employees in non-protected classes for substantially similar work when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility. The Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which was signed into law on April 24, 2018 by Gov. Phil Murphy, takes effect July 1, 2018.

It’s no news to working women that many NJ employers think pregnancy, breastfeeding, and motherhood are incompatible with furthering the company’s business goals. Women have legitimate fears that once they inform their employer that they are pregnant, that their employer will discriminate against them in terms of promotions, training, and being given the tools and opportunities that are essential to excel in their field. At a time when a working women can least afford to lose her job because there will soon be another member of her family to support, it is cruel and tragic to terminate her employment or deny her the opportunities to learn, receive training and opportunities to excel that are afforded to other employees. Not only NJ Employers wrongfully perceive pregnancy, breastfeeding, and motherhood as being  incompatible with a worker’s productivity level, this despicable attitude continues to exist all over the country. By way of example, last week, a California dietary company, who was sued for allegedly firing numerous female employees because they were pregnant and/or not allowing them to return to work after the employees went out on maternity leave, settled the matter by agreeing to pay the multiple victims $50,000.