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If you live and work in NJ you can rest assured that the State is doing everything they can to eliminate discrimination. The laws against harassment and discrimination are detailed and cover several areas. They are in place to protect you from being treated poorly or denied opportunities, especially in employment.

New Jersey (NJ) Job Discrimination Law in the Workplace, through New Jersey’s Law against discrimination says that it is unlawful to subject people to differential treatment based on race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex (including pregnancy), familial status, marital status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for military service, and mental or physical disability, perceived disability, and AIDS and HIV status. The law prohibits employers from discriminating in any employment aspect, including recruitment, interviewing, hiring, promotions, discharge, compensation and the terms, conditions and privileges of employment on the basis of any of the law’s specified protected categories. Additionally under New Jersey (NJ) Job Discrimination Law in the Workplace, an employment policy or practice that is neutral in its terms may be deemed unlawful if the policy or practice has an adverse impact on protected groups. A physical requirement is more likely to be regarded as unlawful if there is an alternative measure of job related abilities, such as strength or stamina tests, that would provide a more accurate evaluation of a candidate’s ability to perform without screening out qualified members of groups that historically have been excluded from particular jobs.

New Jersey (NJ) Job Discrimination Law in the Workplace also prohibits harassment based on protected characteristics such as race, sex or nationality. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual relations or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Such conduct creates an unlawful work environment when it is severe or pervasive enough to make an individual feel the environment has become hostile or abusive.

In New Jersey, sexual discrimination law in the workplace can be found in the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD). Under this law, employers are anyone who employs another person including the State of New Jersey and public agencies. This differs from the federal law because Title VII applies only to those employers who have fifteen or more employees. Employees are those who are employed by employers as defined above. New Jersey law does exclude domestic service.

Under this law, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against their employees on the basis of sex. This means they cannot make decisions about hiring, firing and benefits (such as compensation) based on a person’s sex. It also includes sexual harassment and/or policies that might make the workplace a hostile environment or unfair to one gender or another.

Complaints against employers must be made within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. From there, the Division will contact your employer and give him or her a chance to respond to the complaint. If you and your employer don’t reach an early settlement, an investigator will gather information about your case and then decide whether or not there is reasonable cause to believe that your rights have been violated.

If the investigator finds reasonable cause, you and your employer will enter another settlement phase. If this is unsuccessful, your case will go before a hearing to reach a final decision.

You can also file the case in the state courts. To do so, you’ll need to consult an attorney to go over your options and the case must be filed within two years of the alleged incident. Remember, however, that you cannot file with the Division and go through the courts, so you’ll want to find out which option is best for you.

Employers and employees are each responsible for knowing their rights and responsibilities when it comes to sexual discrimination law in the workplace. One way to help with that is for employers to keep an updated New Jersey Complete Labor Law Poster visible in the workplace.

Well, researching New Jersey’s employment discrimination laws in the workplace has proved that New Jersey is much like many other states. They provide a state-run agency to help investigate and resolve claims and they have expanded on the standards set by federal employment discrimination laws in the workplace.

In New Jersey, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of affectional or sexual orientation, age, ancestry, color, creed, disability (physical or mental), genetics (cannot consider or test for hereditary cellular traits, blood traits, or other genetic information), liability for military service, marital status, nationality, national origin, race, religion, or sex. Disability under New Jersey statutes does not have to have a substantial limitation on a major life activity and businesses with 1 or more employees are held accountable for any discriminatory acts.

Aside from more factors which are considered discriminatory, New Jersey’s employment discrimination laws in the workplace are very strict and specific concerning age discrimination. Workers under 40 are protected and those who are at least 70 cannot claim discrimination on failure to hire although other age discrimination claims for this age group are valid. Employees who win their age-related cases are able to recover damages for emotional pain and suffering as well as damages which are set as punishment for the employer.

Claims in New Jersey can be filed with one of two agencies: the state agency, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR), or the federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). These agencies will work together to resolve you claim as long as you file in one agency and request that your claim be cross-filed with the other. The EEOC can be contacted at Phone: (973) 645-6383 or TTY: (973) 645-3004 and the DCR can be contacted at the following offices:

• Atlantic City
  Phone: (609) 441-3100
• Camden
  Phone: (856) 614-2550
• Newark
  Phone: (973) 648-2700
• Paterson
  Phone: (973) 977-4500
• Trenton
  Phone: (609) 292-4605
• TTY User Information
  Dial 711 and ask the Relay Operator to contact the Division at (609) 292-7701.

Claims through the DCR must be filed within 180 days of the date of the discriminatory act while you have 300 days of this act to file with the EEOC. Because of the difference in deadlines it is best to first file through the DCR and then have them cross-file your claim with the EEOC. File early to avoid delays due to legalities in the filing process as these delays can push your past the deadline. Retaining an attorney is a big help, but is not required.

If your claim is not resolved by these agencies, you may need to pursue it in court. New Jersey does not require you to file with the DCR before you file a case in the state courts; however, if you do file with them and they issue a “no cause” determination, you will not be able to pursue your case under state law but you can appeal this determination. Federal courts do require that you file your claim through the EEOC before you are able to file in the federal court system. Additionally, the EEOC must release your claim by giving you one of two documents: “Dismissal and Notice of Rights,” or “Right to Sue.” A claim filed in federal court must be filed within 90 days of receiving either of the above documents. Lawsuits filed in New Jersey’s state court system have a 2 year time limit from the time the discriminatory act occurred. If you did file with the DCR, you may request a ‘right to sue’ notice after your case has been pending for 180 days.

I think it’s a good time to take a look at New Jersey’s anti-discrimination laws for workers. New Jersey doesn’t permit workers to be discriminated against in the workplace because of age, ancestry, religion, color, disability (including HIV and AIDS), genetic information, sexual orientation, sex, race, nationality, or nation origin. The New Jersey state discrimination posters outline the employee’s rights under both the state and federal anti-discrimination laws.

The New Jersey state discrimination posters must be placed in an area where all employees will have a good opportunity to see them. They also need to contain information that allows the employees to know exactly what can and can’t be done to them. While it is the employers’ responsibility to know the laws and to display the correct New Jersey state discrimination posters in the correct place, it is the employees’ responsibility to read the poster and make sure their rights aren’t violated.

The anti-discrimination laws outlined on the New Jersey state discrimination posters are enforced by the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights. If a person feels that he/she has been discriminated against, that person should file a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights at one of their five regional offices. This complaint must be filed no later than one hundred and eighty days after the last incident of discrimination occurred. The person may or may not obtain an attorney. The alleged victim can also decide to bypass the Division and file their complaint in Superior Court.

It is the responsibility of both the employer and employee to know about the laws dealing with discrimination in the workplace. Workers should find and read the New Jersey state discrimination posters that must be posted in the workplace. The employer must ensure that no discrimination takes place and that the New Jersey state discrimination posters are displayed in an appropriate area.

Do you live in New Jersey and wonder just who might help if you are discriminated against on your job? In this east coast state, it is the Department of Law and Public Safety, Division on Civil Rights. The state has very specific rules prohibiting discrimination in several areas, including employment, and they’re all covered in the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

The law prohibits employers from discriminating in terms of compensation, privileges and benefits, interviewing, hiring, discharge from work and much more. As in some other states, the New Jersey law focuses on intentional discrimination based on any of the categories. However, a practice that seems neutral on its face may be unlawful if it has an adverse impact on any particular or category of employees that are protected.

Are you concerned you might be left out for a particular position due to age, and you would like to prove that you’re physically capable of doing the work? Well, I did some research, only to discover that New Jersey guidelines state a strength or stamina test might indicate better whether you are able to perform certain tasks, as opposed to the employer deciding based on age.

In the state’s Civil Rights law, employer is defined as “any” individual, partnership, association, or corporation acting in the interests of the employer in connection with employees. This applies to a worker who has reached at least the age of 40. Some guidance as to the waiving of discrimination claims comes from a July 2006 decision in New Jersey Appellate Court (O’Brien v. Star Gas Propane). In this ruling, the court stated that the former employee didn’t “knowingly and voluntarily” waive claims of employment discrimination. These claims may fall under the Family Medical Leave Act or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Then in 2004, a circuit court considered whether a worker who claimed age discrimination was replaced by a person sufficiently younger to allow for a claim of age discrimination. In another employment discrimination matter, this one from 2002, the City of Newark, New Jersey and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to settle an employment discrimination claim filed on behalf of Muslim police officers that alleged religious discrimination. As in most states, federal law may apply in some cases and state law in others. For this particular case, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was involved along with the Department of Justice.