Employment

If you are fired or discriminated against at work for being overweight or underweight, whether or not your employer is violating the law depends on whether the employer is applying standards that illegally discriminate against a class of employees that is protected by law, such as based on sex, disability, pregnancy, etc. Persons who are dangerously overweight, i.e., morbidly obese, and those underweight who have anorexia have a disability that gives them a protected status. If you are such a person and are being discriminated against, you should not sit on your rights.

It comes as little surprise to many,  that employers often hand out their pink slips at the end of December. While this may seem to be emotionally the worst time of year to inform workers that they no longer have a job, it does not make it any more illegal than at any other time. It is only significant if employer applies an illegal basis, such as age,  when choosing which employees will be let go and which will remain. Age must be a bona fide occupational qualification for an employer to have a rule mandating retirement at a specified age.

If you are an older employee and the year-end pink slips were disproportionally given to the older workers such as yourself, the employer might be illegally discriminating.

Cancer survivors and those in treatment are entitled to reasonable accommodations at their workplace to allow them to remain employed. Cancer survivors and those in treatment should not have to suffer discrimination at work and numerous state and federal laws prohibit discrimination against an employee who had or has cancer, or are perceived as having cancer.

This firm has successfully represented cancer survivors, both private and  public employees. To persons diagnosed with cancer, treating for it, or having survived it and returned to work, don’t give up! The law is on your side for an employer to make reasonable accommodations that will allow you to remain employed. 

Reasonable Accommodations to Remain Employed

An employee who has cancer should request a reasonable accommodation from their employer that will allow them to remain employed if that accommodation is necessary.

A sexual harasser in the workplace ( and elsewhere) may make statements such as, “You are too sensitive,” or “You are being too PC, ” in order to deflect blame off of  himself  or herself for the sexual harassing acts.

While the law in NJ doesn't prohibit simple teasing, or single incidents that are not very serious, or offhand non-threatening comments, acts may be illegal harassment when they are so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment. A single incident, if sufficiently severe, may be enough to prove a valid claim. If the harrasser’s sexual advances are rebuffed by the employee,  and such rejection or snub results in an adverse employment decision, such as the employee being fired or demoted, there could also be a valid claim. The advances do not have to be tangibly sexual in nature to suffice such a claim.

As reported in the press and according US government statistics, the filing of Pregnancy Discrimination claims are on the rise. Some may like to believe that public school teachers may be immune to this type of discrimination, as they are dedicated to caring for children, but such is not the case. This Law Office has litigated these types of pregnancy cases, both in Federal and State Court and obtained successful monetary results for clients.

The fight to end discrimination against women in the workplace in New Jersey is far from over, and women who plan to have children or become pregnant remain vulnerable. A recent case out of Asbury Park illustrates how pregnancy discrimination is still a problem.

NJ State and Federal law prohibit discrimination against an employee because of the employee’s associations with a disabled person. An employer may not discriminate against you because of your association with a disabled person, or a person who is merely perceived to be disabled, if not in fact disabled. This protection applies not only to permanent and full-time employees but also to part-time and temporary workers. 

The disabled person need not be a relative of the employee; he/she could be a roommate, a friend or other associate. This protected category is known as associational disability discrimination.

As stated earlier on this site, if you work for a private employer you may not sue your employer for violating your free speech rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ( not to be confused with individual state constitutions) which establishes limits only on the government’s infringement of speech rights but not on a private employer’s curtailing of speech of its employees.

The  U.S.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

If you work for a private employer you may not sue your employer for violating your free speech rights under the First Amendment of the U.S.

New Jersey has several laws that prohibit an employer from retaliating against an employee who testifies against the employer in a lawsuit brought by another employee. This is good news including for New Jersey state employees who might otherwise have to rely upon First Amendment protections with mixed results. 

The most common law for protecting workers from retaliation by the employer if they testify against that employer in a lawsuit brought by a co-employee is New Jersey’s general whistleblower law,  the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) N.