Employment Discrimination

New Jersey Employment Discrimination Lawyers Committed to Holding Employers Accountable for Workplace Violations

Discrimination in the workplace is not only unfair and immoral, but it also is against the law. Under New Jersey law, it is a violation of your employment law rights if your employer takes any adverse action against you because you are a member of a legally protected group fired. This means employers cannot demote, harass, discipline, transfer, or underpay you based on a discriminatory reason. At Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C., we have assembled a dedicated team of highly experienced New Jersey employment discrimination lawyers to hold employers responsible when they engage in unlawful discrimination in the workplace.

What Forms of Employment Discrimination Are Illegal?

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”) prohibits many different forms of discrimination and harassment. Specifically, this law prohibits employers from treating you worse based on your membership in any of the following protected categories:

• Age: Age discrimination includes an employer’s decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about older workers.
• Ancestry: It violates New Jersey’s employment laws to discriminate against you based on your ancestry, meaning your family or ethnic descent.
• Color: It is a violation of the law to discriminate against an employee based on the color of their skin.
• Disability: As long as an employee can perform the essential functions of his job, an employer cannot treat them less favorably because they presently or previously had a disability. In addition, disabled employees are entitled to a reasonable accommodation that would permit them to perform the essential functions of their jobs.
• Gender and Sex: Simply put, an employer cannot treat female employees worse than they treat male employees, and vice-versa.
• Marital Status: New Jersey law prohibits companies from making decisions because an employee is married, single, divorced or widowed.
• National Origin: The law prohibits employers from treating employees less favorably based on where they were born.
• Pregnancy: It is a violation of the law to treat a woman less favorably because she is pregnant, because she recently gave birth, or because she is nursing or breastfeeding. In addition, pregnant women are also entitled to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy.
• Race: Employers are legally prohibited from treating employees differently based on their racial or ethnic backgrounds.
• Religion: Employers cannot discriminate based on an employee’s creed, meaning their religious beliefs and practices, and must provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s religious beliefs.
• Sexual Orientation: While it was not always the case, it is now illegal to discriminate against a worker because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or transgender.
• Veteran and Military Status Discrimination: The law prohibits workplace discrimination based on the fact that you are a current or former member of the armed forces.
• Victims of Domestic Violence or Sexual Abuse: It is unlawful to discriminate against someone because they took time off from work because they, or their immediate family member, were a victim of domestic violence or sexual abuse.

What Is an Adverse Employment Action?

An adverse employment action refers to any action taken by an employer that negatively impacts an employee’s terms, conditions, or privileges of employment. Under New Jersey law, this concept is often discussed in the context of claims under the NJLAD and other employment-related statutes.

Adverse employment actions include, but are not limited to:

• Termination or Demotion: Being fired or demoted without a legitimate business reason.
• Reduction in Pay or Hours: A significant cut in salary, hourly wages, or work hours.
• Denial of Promotions or Opportunities: Being unfairly passed over for promotions, raises, or other career advancement opportunities.
• Hostile Work Environment: Actions that create intolerable working conditions, such as harassment that is discriminatory or retaliatory.
• Changes in Job Duties: Assigning tasks significantly below or above the employee’s qualifications or job description, especially if done in retaliation or as a form of discrimination.
• Unjustified Negative Performance Reviews: Receiving unfair or fabricated performance evaluations that could impact future opportunities.
• Transfer to a Less Desirable Position: Being reassigned to a location, schedule, or position that is less favorable without justification.

For an action to qualify as “adverse” under New Jersey law, it must materially affect the employee’s employment in a significant way. Trivial or minor annoyances typically do not meet this standard. Courts in New Jersey often look at whether the action would dissuade a reasonable employee from making a complaint or asserting their rights.

Understanding Constructive Discharge

Constructive discharge is a form of adverse employment action where an employer does not explicitly terminate the employee but creates or allows intolerable working conditions that force the employee to resign. To prove constructive discharge under New Jersey law, an employee must demonstrate:

1. Intolerable Conditions – The working environment was so hostile, discriminatory, or unbearable that no reasonable employee could be expected to remain.
2. Employer Responsibility – The employer either directly created these conditions or allowed them to persist without intervention.
3. Objective Standard – Courts use an objective standard to assess whether the conditions were truly intolerable, meaning a reasonable person in the same position would feel they had no choice but to resign.

Adverse Employment Actions and Retaliation

The NJLAD and federal laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for engaging in protected activities, such as filing a discrimination complaint or whistleblowing. Retaliatory actions that significantly impact employment qualify as adverse.

Our Experienced New Jersey Discrimination Lawyers Are Here to Enforce Your Rights

If you have been wrongfully fired, constructively discharged, demoted, suspended, paid less, or otherwise treated less favorably because you belong to a legally protected class, Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. can help. Our dedicated team of New Jersey employment attorneys have decades of hands-on experience successfully handling discrimination claims against some of the largest and most powerful employers in the state. To learn more, and to schedule a no-obligation consultation today, call Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C, at 201-777-2250. You can also connect with us through our secure online contact form.