Employment

Anonymous ageist biases in the workplace creates a toxic environment. It should be obvious that the telling of ageist jokes, or ridiculing people’s disabilities, written language that circulates negative stereotypes, displays of cartoons that are racially offensive, and the use of offensive epithets may contribute to a hostile work environment for a worker of that particular class, even if the jokes, cartoon, epithets are not directed at any particular worker. If you believe you are being subjected to an illegal hostile work environment, you should contact this office today for a free consultation.

Anonymous Biases Can Constitute Harassment in Certain Circumstances

Courts have held that anonymous harassment, such as racist cartoons drawn on bathroom walls, graffiti or the display of a noose, may create a hostile work environment, even if it is not clearly directed at any particular employee. In Tademy v.

Employees, whether they be top-tier executives or hourly wage earners, who experience age discrimination in the workplace, who file under the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) currently do not have the full scope of legal remedies available them on par with other protected classes in employment discrimination lawsuits that are brought under federal laws. Note: if you are a New Jersey plaintiff, you can fortunately avoid these restrictions mandated under the federal ADEA, by filing a lawsuit instead under New Jersey’s state discrimination statute, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). The NJLAD allows for greater monetary damages than does an employment age discrimination lawsuit filed under the federal ADEA.

Don’t sit on your rights! If you are the victim of age discrimination, you should call this office today for a free consultation. I have represented older workers for private and public employers, 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.

Disreputable employers will sometimes try and cheat as many of the workers as possible if they think they can get away with it. If your employer violated NJ Wage Payment Law or Wage and Hours Law, by not paying you and other workers for the hours you worked over 40 hours a week; or by not paying you at the overtime rate of time and half wage rate; or by the deceitful mis-classification of you and other employees as being “exempt employees” who are paid salary and not entitled to overtime; or by other withholding rightful wages, you may wonder if you are better suing the employer on your own, or with other cheated workers in a class action lawsuit.

If You Are Experiencing Such Despicable Wage Theft, You Should Contact this Office Immediately for a Free Consultation. I am an experienced and successful wage payment attorney who can advise you as to your options and the best course of action for you. Don’t sit on your rights! If you are being cheated out of your wages, you may call this office today for a free consultation.

Millions of workers who are salaried workers will benefit from the new Rule announced by President Biden on April 23, 2024. The Biden administration issued the final rule to increase the compensation thresholds for workers’ overtime eligibility, thereby expanding protections for millions of underpaid salaried workers who work long hours without monetary compensation.

If your employer is not paying you legal wages, you should call this office today for a free consultation. I am successful in bringing employee lawsuits against governmental entities and private employers and recovering money for victims of illegal payment under wage and hour laws. Don’t sit on your rights!

Additionally, there is an epidemic of companies who offer prospective or current workers a fabricated “Manager” title to avoid paying them overtime wages which the employers are legally obligated to pay them.

A bill introduced by Sen. Cory A. Booker (D-NJ), The Ending Forced Arbitration of Race Discrimination Act of 2023, may bring some relief to employees experiencing race discrimination at work. Many Black employees and other employees of color are prohibited from filing a race discrimination lawsuit against their employer because at the time of their application to work for the employer, or after they began working, they signed an agreement that they would go to an arbitration proceeding to resolve all claims arising out of their employment, rather than file a lawsuit in a court where a jury may decide the outcome. This bill prohibits a predispute arbitration agreement from being valid or enforceable with respect to a case relating to a race discrimination dispute at the election of the person alleging the discrimination.

Conduct on Employer’s Email or Other Electronic System May Contribute to a Hostile Work Environment.

The most common complaint I have heard from employees regarding using an employer email system is co-workers’ dissemination (and further re-distribution) of sexist jokes, homophobic humor, and proliferation of racial stereotypes. Biased co-workers or bullies may be aware such discriminatory conduct is frequently illegal, and may feel they have a personal shield to distance themselves from their own biased comments and humor when their statements are made in an email or other electronic format, rather than uttered in a physical office setting. For one, there is a time lapse between the time the biased joke or comment is published on the internet, and when it may be reviewed by the intended recipient. Throw a mud ball and run away.

With the rapidly evolving and nascent artificial intelligence technology used by employers, there is a risk of adverse consequences for employees with certain legally protected characteristics, such as disability and age, according to a study published by the Department of Labor and an independent research group. According to the study, whether by design or unintended consequences of the ever-evolving AI tools, the two groups of workers that may be most affected by illegal bias because of AI are high-end processionals whose roles require them to extensively use the newest AI tools and who are more exposed to AI than are other workers, and actual tech development workers who innovate new ways to expand the rapidly evolving AI technology.

While the study concluded the biggest potential risk of employment discrimination as a result of employer AI applications will be against those whose duties require them to predominately and regularly use rapidly evolving AI tools and against high-end processionals, there is a risk of adverse consequences against all workers who have certain legally protected characteristics.

Risk of Adverse Consequences for Employees with Certain Protected Characteristics

According to the study, a primary potential outcome of AI as to employment discrimination entails an increased risk of adverse consequences for employees with certain legally “protected” characteristics. For instance, an AI tool may have algorithms that inadvertently (or by design) discriminate against certain groups when analyzing resumes or making hiring decisions, such as people of certain races, age, or with disabilities, or applicants who identify as LGBT.

New Jersey Courts have recognized that workplace harassment based on race does not have to be directed at a specific complaining employee for it to comprise a hostile work environment. When workers think of race harassment, they sometimes think the harasser must target a specific individual, and such person may have an actionable claim. Newly proposed federal government guidelines that have not yet been written into regulations, have a broader definition of harassment based on workers being in a legally protected class, and as to which workers may be able to bring a claim. The proposed guidelines are more in keeping with what is already New Jersey law as to who may have a hostile work environment claim.

Hostile Work Environment when Offensive Conduct Not Directed at Complaining Employee

An employee’s work environment can be affected by racially offensive conduct, even when that conduct is directed at a different employee.

The disparity in New Jersey and other states as to the increase in state minimum wages reflects the deeply ingrained class bias within the culture. New Jersey’s increase in the minimum wage by one dollar an hour to be paid by most, but not all, employers from $14.13 to $15.13 an hour is insufficient for most workers, including those who are not married and have no children, to sustain themselves. A household with children may disproportionately struggle compared to those who earn above the minimum even though many minimum wage employment positions are generally needed to fulfill necessary and essential functions in the society, and frequently few persons with other options would choose to do this work.

Comprehensive civil rights legislation called the Equality Act is bicameral legislation that would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ persons in employment. In 2023, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (Dem.-NJ) reintroduced this bill in the Senate which would ban employment discrimination based on a person’s gender, gender orientation and sexual orientation status.