Age Discrimination Category Archives — New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog Published by New Jersey Employment Attorneys

Published on: April 7, 2023

Federal Versus New Jersey Age Discrimination and Disability Discrimination Laws: What’s the Difference?

In some situations, you may encounter workplace discrimination that targets you for one specific reason. Other times, you may be the victim of discrimination that spans multiple protected characteristics. (Still other times, the nature of the discrimination may involve a tandem of protected characteristics, such as, for example, discrimination specifically targeting Latina women.) Each of those scenarios may implicate state anti-discrimination law, federal law, or both. Whatever the nature of your circumstance, you can help your case’s chances of success by talking to an experienced New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer as soon as possible.

These issues of state anti-discrimination law versus federal law are sometimes quite significant as, in some ways, the procedural requirements between the two can vary in important ways.

Take, for example, the multi-faceted discrimination case of E.D., a woman who worked for an insurance entity. Her complaint alleged that she endured disability discrimination when her employer failed to engage in a good faith interactive process to provide her with a reasonable accommodation after her return to work from emergency surgery.

Published on: March 10, 2023

Two White School Employees in Newark Recover $1.3M Jury Award in Race Discrimination Action

by Phillips & Associates

When one hears the phrase “reverse discrimination,” it can be easy to fall into misconceptions regarding how anti-discrimination laws work. While these laws play an essential role in eliminating discrimination against traditionally marginalized and oppressed groups (such as Black people, women, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, etc.,) the intent and the goal of these laws in New Jersey goes further. The courts in this state have been clear that the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination exists to eradicate the “cancer” of discrimination in all its forms when that discrimination occurs based on a protected characteristic. So, even if you were the target of discrimination because you were White, male, straight, an American citizen, etc., you have just as much protection under the law and, with the assistance of a skilled New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer, just as much opportunity to recover compensation for the harm you suffered.

The age and race discrimination case of two North Jersey school employees was a reminder of this truth for one Essex County school system. As nj.com reported, one of the educators, A.D., was a White woman in her 60s working at a Newark high school where the student population was 90% Black. The other educator, D.S., also was a White woman in her 60s and served as the chair of the math department at a high school where the student population was 78% Latino.

In 2013, when the educators were in their 50s, they applied for vice principal positions. Both were rejected. D.S., in fact, got transferred to a different school and demoted to lunch aide, according to the lawsuit. A.D. allegedly got reassigned, which carried with it a pay cut.

Published on: January 31, 2023

The Crucial Deadlines in Any New Jersey Employment Discrimination Case

by Phillips & Associates

We all face deadlines at work, and missed deadlines can be costly in any arena. When it comes to discrimination lawsuits, a missed deadline — sometimes missed by as little as one day — can mean catastrophic results for the worker harmed by illegal discrimination. Timely filings, in addition to all other aspects of procedural rule compliance, represent a vital area where a diligent and experienced New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer can benefit your case.

I.K. allegedly was one of those workers where deadlines were an issue. She was an underwriter for a major insurance company who resigned to start working for a competing insurance company. The worker’s old employer sued her for trade secret violations and breach of contract. The underwriter filed a counterclaim, alleging illegal race/ethnicity and age discrimination.

As noted above, avoiding potential timeliness issues may be crucial to success. In the underwriter’s case, the former employer contended that a critical 90-day deadline had elapsed, which meant I.K. could not pursue her discrimination counterclaims.

Published on: January 10, 2023

Seeking — and Obtaining — Essential Electronic Proof for Your New Jersey Employment Discrimination Case

by Phillips & Associates

Today, more and more workplaces are going “paperless,” meaning that they use as little paper as possible. Many of the records and documents that used to reside in hardcopy now exist as digital files or information stored in the cloud. While workplaces going paperless is often a good thing for the planet, it may be a tricky one for some workers who are harmed by workplace discrimination. For some workers seeking to pursue discrimination claims, the pathway to essential information needed to make their cases may be blocked by an employer that claims that the technology platform or app it uses cannot generate the documentation the employee has requested. If you are an employee who encountered this kind (or any other kind) of roadblock to essential proof, a knowledgeable New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer can show you how to go about pursuing that evidence.

A.F. was one of those workers: an employee harmed by age discrimination and whose essential evidence was contained in a cloud-based software platform.

A.F. began working in the advertising sales department of a major North Jersey newspaper in 2004. When she took the job, she was 48 years old. After a major media corporation purchased the paper in 2016,

Published on: August 17, 2022

Ways to Invalidate that Agreement You Signed Waiving Your Age Discrimination Claim in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

When a worker has devoted decades of service to an employer, they likely hope for recognition and appreciation… and perhaps a nice sendoff party at the end. Many workers experience something much different, where their employers and supervisors view them as past-their-prime old-timers who no longer have “what it takes” and now must be pushed aside, often as ruthlessly and swiftly as possible. If that happens to you as an older worker, that action your employer may simply see as a “business decision” could actually be an instance of illegal age discrimination. A skilled New Jersey age discrimination lawyer can help you assess your circumstances and plot the best path forward.

One such alleged victim of age discrimination recently scored a significant victory in the New Jersey Appellate Division court.

The worker, L.T., was an assistant public defender for nearly 28 years from 1990 to 2017. For the first 22 years, L.T.’s record was “unblemished.” However, in the final 5+ years, the lawyer allegedly experienced an extended pattern of age-related harassment.

Published on: July 22, 2022

Hostile Work Environments in New Jersey: It’s Not Always About Slurs, Assaults, or Extreme Humiliation

by Phillips & Associates

Certain instances of workplace discrimination are fairly clear: a Black person who endures a daily deluge of racial epithets, a Muslim employee who hears a seemingly endless line of jihadi, terrorist, and bombing jokes, or an older worker who endures a regular torrent of “OK Boomer” comments. Other times, it’s not so obvious. In either type of situation, you may have a viable claim for a hostile work environment. Also in either circumstance, but especially in the latter, it pays to retain a knowledgeable New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer, who can help you make the most of your facts and demonstrate how they satisfy each of the elements of the law.

I.G. was someone whose alleged hostile work environment fell into the latter category. According to his complaint, he experienced a bout of vertigo in 2020, and as a result, the employer forced him to take a week of medical leave from his plant supervisor job.

After he returned, C.C., his supervisor, allegedly was “very cold and negative.” According to the lawsuit, the supervisor began making negative age-related comments about I.G. to other workers, including “it’s time for [I.G.] to retire.”

Published on: July 8, 2022

Succeeding in a Race Discrimination Case in New Jersey When the Discrimination You Endured Was Less than Obvious

by Phillips & Associates

Sometimes, race discrimination at work is “in your face,” like nooses or the use of the N-word. Often, though, it’s subtle. It may be little things, including seemingly facially neutral things, that unfairly hold back Black workers and/or push ahead those employees’ white coworkers. Whether the discrimination that adversely affected your employment was something overt or something less obvious on its face, it’s damaging and it may be the basis of a winning discrimination case. By contacting a knowledgeable New Jersey race discrimination lawyer, you can find out what options the legal system has for recouping compensation for the illegal harm you suffered.

T.W.’s race discrimination case was one of the latter kind. She was a Black woman who worked for the Office of the Attorney General in the Law and Public Safety Department, where she held the title of “personnel assistant.” As is common with many public employers, the department had multiple classes or grades of the same job title. In the department, personnel assistants ranged from “PA4,” the lowest rank, to “PA1,” the highest rank.

She began as a PA4 in 2004. By early 2018, she had risen to PA2 but, according to her lawsuit, the department had overlooked promoting her to PA2 for two years. Additionally, the department allegedly slowed her rise to PA1 by removing her subordinate and assigning that worker to a white employee. (That reassignment harmed T.W.’s career because it deprived her of the opportunity to accrue supervisory experience, which the employer required before promoting a personnel assistant to PA1.)

Published on: May 17, 2022

What It Takes to Overcome a Defense Motion to Dismiss in Your New Jersey Age Discrimination Case Against Your Employer

by Phillips & Associates

Arriving at a successful resolution of your age discrimination case is the result of numerous hurdles cleared successfully. One such hurdle that you will likely encounter is your employer’s motion to dismiss. Losing this motion gets your case tossed before you ever get to trial, so clearing this hurdle is crucial. As you get set to take on the entire process of litigating a discrimination case in the Garden State, count on a knowledgeable New Jersey age discrimination lawyer to help you get over each of the hurdles in your path.

Getting past a defense motion to dismiss involves several things, one of the most essential of which is having a well-pled complaint. The recent age discrimination case of one Central Jersey worker shows this in action.

The worker, C.L., had worked for the same architecture and engineering firm since the mid-1980s. However, one day in January 2019, the company president told the engineer that “there was no work” and that he was terminated effective at the end of that day.

Published on: May 10, 2022

When Out-of-State Remote Workers Need to Pursue Their New Jersey Employers With Law Against Discrimination Claims

by Phillips & Associates

In April 2022, the percentage of workers who worked remotely was at its lowest in two years but, even with these declines, fully 1 in 13 workers (7.7%) remains a remote employee. With remote work comes the question of what to do if you, as a remote worker, experience discrimination or sexual harassment. Who should you sue? Where should you sue? For answers to these and other vital questions, look to an experienced New Jersey workplace discrimination lawyer for the answers you need.

A recent disability discrimination case addressing this issue involved a New Jersey woman who took a job with a New York City investment bank in 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she began her job working remotely from her home. Shocked by the extremely long hours she was working, the employee notified Human Resources that she had an anxiety and mood disorder that required regular sleep. Human Resources and a senior partner worked out an accommodation, and the employee was made exempt from working more than 15 hours on any one day.

Just a few weeks later, the employer fired the woman, allegedly asserting that, among the job’s essential requirements, was “working many 120-hour weeks,” and that her disability rendered her incapable of satisfying the essential duties of the job.

Published on: March 24, 2022

What Does (and Does Not) Qualify as an ‘Adverse Employment Action’ When You Pursue a Federal Employment Discrimination Action in New Jersey

by Phillips & Associates

When you need to pursue a discrimination lawsuit in New Jersey, your case needs several things, not the least of which is something called an “adverse employment action.” This is just one of many essential components your case needs to succeed. To make sure you have everything necessary for a positive outcome, be sure that, before you start, you’ve retained a knowledgeable New Jersey employment discrimination lawyer.

Any of a range of actions can be adverse employment actions. It is fairly cut-and-dried that things like terminations, demotions, suspensions without pay, disciplinary “write-ups” or actions, reductions of pay or hours, or negative performance reviews are adverse.

As the recent age and disability discrimination case of one New Jersey woman shows, the array of actions that can qualify as adverse under employment law is not limited only to those listed above.