Phillips & Associates Opens New Jersey Office in Princeton

Expanding Employment Practice to New Jersey

Phillips & Associates Opens a New Jersey Office in PrincetonRecently, Phillips & Associates opened a new employment law office in Princeton, New Jersey. The managing partner of the office is Bryan Arce and the other lead attorney in the office is Silvia Stanciu. Mr. Arce and Ms. Stanciu have experienced New Jersey employment lawyers who take pride in providing legal representation to victims of employer misconduct. Mr. Arce, and his team, have been part of several multi-million dollar verdicts. Mr. Arce’s previous experience in the hospitality and food services industries gives him insights into the challenges faced by workers who have been mistreated or discriminated against.

Many of the claims that this office handles relate to federal and state protections against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Title VII and New Jersey Law Against Discrimination

Both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination protect employees in New Jersey from discrimination and sexual harassment. The federal law only applies to workplaces with 50 or more employees, and it requires you to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before you bring a civil lawsuit. Damages are capped based on the size of your employer.

For some people, filing a lawsuit under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination may provide a better alternative. The NJLAD applies to smaller employers and prohibits discriminatory treatment on the basis of membership in many different protected classes, including race, color, religion, creed, national origin, nationality, and ancestry. There is no cap on damages if you are successful in your lawsuit. Our employment attorneys can help New Jersey residents bring claims under state or federal law.

What is Discrimination?

Discrimination involves treating employees in a different way based on their membership in a protected class. For example, failing to promote someone on the basis of their race or sex is one type of discrimination. Similarly, paying someone less or providing fewer employment opportunities to people of a particular religion is discrimination. Moreover, a policy that appears to be neutral but has a disparate impact on people who belong to a particular class may also be discriminatory.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is one form of discrimination. The harassment may involve a person of authority conditioning your employment on your submission to the harassment, or it may consist of conduct that creates a hostile work environment. Conduct that may create a hostile work environment may include any form of unwelcome sexual advances as well as verbal comments, innuendoes, explicit emails, graphic images, gestures, and assaults that occur due to the victim's gender or sex. However, sexual harassment does not need to include sexual content to be actionable. It may include offensive remarks about women in general or the sex of an employee. A trivial or one-off comment or gesture is not likely to rise to the level of a hostile work environment.

Sexual harassment may be committed by a supervisor, manager, coworker, or client, and it may be committed by people of either sex and any sexual orientation or gender identity. An employer may be held vicariously liable for its employee's sexually harassing conduct. Sexual harassment by your supervisor is perhaps the most common type of harassment. In New Jersey, someone is considered your supervisor under the Law Against Discrimination if they have the authority to take or recommend concrete employment actions affecting you or directing your daily activities in the workplace.

Damages

Damages that may be available when you sue under the NJLAD include compensatory damages, back pay, front pay, and injunctive relief. Punitive damages may be available in cases in which your employer is willfully indifferent to the harassment or upper managers participate in sexually harassing you.

Contact an Employment Lawyer in New Jersey

Your employer will likely have knowledgeable counsel at every step of the way, and so should you. If you believe that you may have a discrimination or sexual harassment claim, you should consult our New Jersey employment attorneys without delay. Call our Princeton office at (866) 229-9441 or contact us online to set up a free appointment with a discrimination lawyer or seek assistance with another type of employment claim. We represent employees throughout Passaic, Bergen, Morris, Essex, Union, Hudson, Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, Mercer, Burlington, and Camden Counties.

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