New Jersey Sex / Gender Discrimination

New Jersey Lawyers Helping Workers Fight Sex & Gender Discrimination

Are you treated differently on the job from your colleagues of the opposite sex or gender? Sex generally refers to biological traits, while gender refers to characteristics that are delineated by the culture as masculine or feminine. Sex and gender discrimination are unlawful in New Jersey workplaces under federal and state laws. If you're subject to adverse treatment by an employer because of your sex or gender, you may be able to recover damages in a lawsuit. At Phillips & Associates, our New Jersey sex discrimination lawyers are experienced in evaluating the set of facts leading up to alleged sex/gender discrimination and zealously representing employees who are victims of workplace discrimination.

Sex or Gender Discrimination under Federal Law and New Jersey Law

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits sex and gender discrimination against employees at businesses with 15 or more employees. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) prohibits this type of discrimination even in smaller businesses. This type of discrimination can take many forms. Often it involves pay, but it can also include decisions to hire, fire, provide benefits, promote or demote, or provide additional training or recourse to mentorship programs. It can also be jokes, ridicule or mocking because of your sex/gender

Furthermore, the federal Equal Pay Act specifically prohibits discrimination between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to one employee at a rate that is less than what the employer pays to employees of the opposite sex for equal work that requires the same responsibilities, effort, and level of skill, under similar employment conditions. There are exceptions for a merit system, seniority system, a system based on quantity or quality or work, and differentials other than sex.

Sexual Harassment Is Sex/Gender Discrimination

Harassment is a form of sex or gender discrimination under both Title VII and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. Sexual harassment can include a wide range of actions taken on the basis of the victim's sex, including unwelcome remarks, jokes, comments, gestures, physical touching, groping, assault, or rape. The victim and perpetrator need not be opposite sex, and the victim can be a man or a woman.

In New Jersey, even an employer with only one employee may not engage in sexual harassment of that one employee under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. If your feel your job is made conditional on accepting the harassment, it is probably quid pro quo sexual harassment. For example, if you are told that you have to have sex with your boss, or else, this is quid pro quo harassment. When harassment is so frequent or extreme a reasonable person would find that the workplace was hostile, this is considered hostile work environment harassment.

Damages Are Available for Victims of Gender Discrimination

Under Title VII there are caps on the amount of compensatory and punitive damages that you can recover, depending on how large or small your employer is. The cap for employers that employ 500 employees, for example is $300,000. In Equal Pay Act lawsuits that involve intentionally disparate wages on the basis of sex, you cannot recover compensatory or punitive damages, but if the discrimination was especially malicious or reckless, you might be entitled to liquidated damages in an amount equivalent to how much back pay you were awarded.

Protect Your Rights With Help from New Jersey Employment Discrimination Attorneys

It is upsetting to be subject to sex or gender discrimination on the job. When you come to work you expect to be treated fairly based on the quality of your work, and for many people it can take a huge emotional toll to be treated differently due to gender or sex. The New Jersey gender discrimination attorneys of Phillips & Associates may be able to help you recover damages. Contact us at (866) 229-9441 or through our online system. We help clients in Passaic, Bergen, Morris, Essex, Union, Hudson, Somerset, Mercer, Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Camden Counties.

PHILLIPS & ASSOCIATES
100 Overlook Center, 2nd Floor
Princeton, NJ 08540
Tel: (866) 229-9441