New Jersey Workplace Discrimination Attorney

Workplace discrimination occurs when an employer takes an adverse employment action — hiring, firing, promotion, pay, job assignments, training — based on an employee's protected characteristics rather than their qualifications or performance. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination in all aspects of employment.

The NJLAD covers more protected characteristics than federal law and applies to employers of all sizes. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, religion, marital status, domestic partnership status, civil union status, military service, and genetic information.

Discrimination can be overt or subtle. Direct evidence of discriminatory intent is rare — most cases are built on circumstantial evidence including patterns of treatment, comparative evidence, and the employer's failure to follow its own policies.

How NJ's NJLAD Exceeds Federal Protections

The NJLAD provides broader protections than federal anti-discrimination laws in several key respects. It applies to employers of all sizes — there is no minimum employee threshold as there is under Title VII (15 employees) or the ADEA (20 employees). Individual supervisors and managers can be held personally liable for discriminatory conduct. The NJLAD covers more protected characteristics than federal law. And unlike Title VII, the NJLAD does not cap compensatory or punitive damages, making NJ claims potentially more valuable than their federal counterparts.

Proving Discrimination: Direct and Circumstantial Evidence

Direct evidence of discrimination — a supervisor saying 'we don't promote women' — is rare. Most discrimination cases are built on circumstantial evidence. Courts use a burden-shifting framework: the employee establishes a prima facie case of discrimination, the employer offers a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the action, and the employee then demonstrates that the stated reason is pretextual. Evidence of pretext includes inconsistent treatment of similarly situated employees outside the protected class, suspicious timing, departures from standard procedures, and statements by decision-makers.

Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Accommodation

The NJLAD requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. A disability under NJ law is broadly defined to include any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Employers must engage in an interactive process with the employee to identify appropriate accommodations. Failure to accommodate, failure to engage in the interactive process, and termination of an employee who requests an accommodation are all actionable under the NJLAD.

Disparate Impact Discrimination

Not all discrimination is intentional. Disparate impact discrimination occurs when an employer's facially neutral policy or practice has a disproportionate adverse effect on a protected group and cannot be justified by business necessity. Common examples include educational requirements, testing, and physical requirements that screen out protected groups at higher rates. Disparate impact claims require statistical evidence and are typically more complex than disparate treatment claims, but they can be powerful tools in challenging systemic discrimination.