New Jersey Employment Lawyer

Employment Discrimination

Discrimination occurs when an employer treats a worker less favorably because of a protected characteristic rather than because of performance or business need. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The NJLAD covers a broader range of characteristics and applies to employers of any size.

Discrimination is rarely announced. It usually appears as a pattern: exclusion from meetings or opportunities, a performance review that changes tone after a disclosure, a reorganization that removes one group, or a standard applied to one employee and not to others. Building that pattern into admissible evidence is the core of these cases.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. It generally takes two forms. Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a job benefit is conditioned on submitting to sexual conduct. A hostile work environment arises when conduct is severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment.

New Jersey courts apply the standard set out in Lehmann v. Toys 'R' Us, which asks whether the conduct would not have occurred but for the employee's protected characteristic and whether a reasonable person of that characteristic would consider it severe or pervasive. New Jersey also holds employers vicariously liable for supervisor harassment in circumstances where federal law might not, and the absence of an effective anti-harassment policy weighs heavily against an employer.

Learn more about sexual harassment claims

Workplace Sexual Assault

A single act of sexual assault at work is generally severe enough to create a hostile work environment as a matter of law. In New Jersey a survivor may pursue claims under the NJLAD alongside common law claims including assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and in appropriate cases claims against the employer for negligent hiring, retention, or supervision.

New Jersey has also extended the civil statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims considerably, which can allow certain matters to proceed that would otherwise be time barred. These cases are handled with discretion and with attention to the survivor's privacy at every stage.

Race Discrimination

Title VII, Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the NJLAD all prohibit discrimination based on race, color, ancestry, and national origin. In practice this means an employer may not use race as a factor in hiring, pay, assignments, promotion, discipline, or termination.

New Jersey's Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act amended the NJLAD to make clear that race includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locs, and twists.

Sex and Gender Discrimination

Employers may not treat workers less favorably because of sex or gender. This covers unequal pay, denial of assignments and promotions, and gender based harassment. The NJLAD expressly protects gender identity and gender expression, and New Jersey's pay equity law significantly restricts an employer's ability to justify pay disparities between employees performing substantially similar work.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

New Jersey prohibited discrimination based on affectional or sexual orientation long before federal law reached the same result in Bostock v. Clayton County, and the NJLAD has expressly covered gender identity and expression for years. Protections extend to misgendering, refusal to use a chosen name, denial of access to facilities consistent with an employee's gender identity, and discriminatory application of dress and grooming standards.

Pregnancy Discrimination

The New Jersey Pregnant Workers Fairness Act amended the NJLAD to require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, including recovery from childbirth. Accommodations can include schedule adjustments, seating, additional restroom or water breaks, temporary changes to duties, and modified assignments. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act now imposes a comparable obligation nationwide.

New Jersey law also protects breastfeeding and expressly requires reasonable break time and a suitable private location other than a restroom. Refusing an accommodation, demoting an employee after she discloses a pregnancy, or terminating her before or after leave may all give rise to a claim.

Disability Discrimination

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the NJLAD, an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified employee with a disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. New Jersey's definition of disability is broader than the federal one and does not require the impairment to substantially limit a major life activity, which means employees who fall outside the ADA may still be protected under state law.

New Jersey also requires an interactive process with the employee about accommodation. Failing to engage in that process in good faith is itself evidence of a violation.

Age Discrimination

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers aged 40 and over. The NJLAD contains no such threshold and prohibits age discrimination against employees of any age. Age claims often surface during restructurings, when experienced and higher-paid employees are disproportionately selected for elimination, or when a role is filled by a significantly younger hire shortly after a termination.

Religious Discrimination

Employers must reasonably accommodate an employee's sincerely held religious beliefs and practices, including scheduling around observances and permitting religious dress and grooming, unless the accommodation would create an undue hardship. New Jersey law sets a demanding standard for employers seeking to refuse a religious accommodation, and the Supreme Court's decision in Groff v. DeJoy raised the federal burden as well.

National Origin and Ancestry

Discrimination based on national origin, ancestry, nationality, accent, or perceived immigration status is unlawful under both federal law and the NJLAD. New Jersey guidance treats threats to report an employee to immigration authorities as a form of unlawful discrimination and retaliation, and New Jersey's wage and hour protections apply regardless of a worker's immigration status.

Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment exists when unwelcome conduct tied to a protected characteristic becomes a condition of continued employment. Under New Jersey law the analysis focuses on the totality of the circumstances, and a single sufficiently severe incident can establish a claim on its own. An employer's failure to maintain and enforce an effective anti-harassment policy is a significant factor in establishing liability.

Retaliation

It is unlawful to punish an employee for reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation, requesting an accommodation, or opposing conduct they reasonably believe is illegal. Retaliation can take the form of termination, demotion, schedule changes, exclusion, or a sudden shift in performance reviews.

Retaliation claims are frequently stronger than the underlying complaint, because the timing and the change in treatment are often documented even when the original discrimination is not. An employee can prevail on retaliation even if the underlying complaint does not succeed.

CEPA Whistleblower Claims

The Conscientious Employee Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 et seq., is among the broadest whistleblower statutes in the country. It protects employees who disclose or object to an activity, policy, or practice they reasonably believe is unlawful, fraudulent, or incompatible with a clear mandate of public policy concerning public health, safety, welfare, or the environment.

An employee does not need to be correct that a violation occurred, only reasonable in the belief. CEPA provides for reinstatement, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees, and it carries a right to a jury trial. The deadline is short: CEPA claims generally must be filed within one year, which is half the NJLAD period.

Qui Tam and False Claims Act Matters

Whistleblowers who report fraud against the government under the federal False Claims Act or the New Jersey False Claims Act help protect public funds and may receive a share of the money recovered. These cases are filed under seal and are procedurally demanding, which makes early and experienced counsel important. Both statutes contain their own anti-retaliation provisions independent of CEPA.

Wrongful Termination

New Jersey is an at-will employment state, which means an employer may generally end the relationship for any reason or no reason. That rule has significant limits. A termination is unlawful if it is based on a protected characteristic, if it is retaliation for protected activity, if it breaches a contract or collective bargaining agreement, or if it violates a clear mandate of public policy under Pierce v. Ortho Pharmaceutical.

Equal Pay and Wage Claims

The Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act is one of the strongest pay equity laws in the country. It prohibits paying members of a protected class less for substantially similar work, allows a six-year look-back period for damages, and provides for treble damages. An employer defending a pay disparity must show it is based on a bona fide factor other than the protected characteristic and that the factor is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

We also handle unpaid overtime, minimum wage, unlawful deductions, prevailing wage, and misclassification claims under the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, the New Jersey Wage Payment Law, and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The New Jersey Wage Theft Act substantially increased penalties and extended the look-back period to six years.

Family and Medical Leave

New Jersey employees may be entitled to leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, New Jersey Earned Sick Leave, and the New Jersey SAFE Act for victims of domestic or sexual violence. These statutes have different eligibility rules and can run concurrently or separately depending on the circumstances, which is a frequent source of employer error.

Interfering with leave, discouraging an employee from taking it, or treating the use of leave as a negative factor in a later employment decision can all give rise to a claim.

Severance Agreements and Non-Disclosure Provisions

Severance agreements almost always contain a release of claims, and once signed they are difficult to undo. They may also contain non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality provisions with consequences that outlast the employment itself.

New Jersey law is notably protective here. A 2019 amendment to the NJLAD makes unenforceable against an employee any provision in an employment contract or settlement agreement that conceals the details of a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment. An employer that attempts to enforce such a provision may itself face liability. Have any agreement reviewed before you sign it.