Employees within the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office could face serious disciplinary action as a result of a workplace complaint investigation conducted by an outside law firm in response to unlawful employee conduct. The investigation was prompted by a series of offensive social media posts shared by Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office…
Articles Posted in race discrimination
3rd Circuit Recognizes Associational Discrimination Under Title VII
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held on July 29, 2021, that a white employee’s lawsuit against his former employer for workplace retaliation under Title VII could move forward. This decision is especially notable because it is the first time the Third Circuit has issued a…
Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That Two Racial Slurs Are Enough to Establish a Hostile Work Environment
SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY RULES THAT SUPERVISOR’S USAGE OF RACIAL SLURS AGAINST EMPLOYEE ON ONLY TWO OCCASIONS ARE ENOUGH TO ESTABLISH SEVERITY IN A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT CASE In an unanimous opinion, the New Jersey Supreme Court has held that the use of offensive racist slurs on two occasions could meet…
Manchester HS Basketball Star Exercises First Amendment Rights In Response to BOE’s Attempt to Silence Her
In Manchester, a township in Ocean County, New Jersey where 92% of its approximately 43,000 residents are white, a star high school basketball player’s attempt to speak out against issues of race discrimination and inequity was shut down by the Board of Education. At the most recent Board meeting, star…
One Racist Comment Is Enough: How New Jersey Protects Employees From Workplace Harassment Where Other States Don’t
While there are federal and state laws that protect employees from racial discrimination in the workplace throughout the country, these laws are not always uniform in terms of the severity or pervasive enough of the complained of conduct that constitute an actionable hostile work environment. Generally speaking, when the racially…
Smith Eibeler Applauds Middletown North Valedictorian Jada Tulloch for Her Courageous Exercise of First Amendment Rights
The recent highly publicized deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, among others, have cast a spotlight on race relations across the United States. Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement in many cities have taken to the streets in protest of police brutality and systemic racism. In…
New Jersey Moves Forward with Hair Discrimination Law
Earlier this week, New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate passed a ban on discrimination associated with hair. Discrimination based on hair has been popping up in courtrooms and legislatures across the country. Once Governor Murphy signs off, it will be unlawful to discriminate based upon hair. In several states, bills have…
New York Follows New Jersey’s Lead in Adopting Laws to Combat Wage Inequality and Workplace Discrimination
On the morning of July 10, 2019, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed new legislation into law providing protections for equal pay for women and increasing protections against race and gender based employment discrimination. The legislation was signed at the ticker-tape parade for the United States Women’s National Soccer…
New York City Bans Hair Discrimination
Last month New York City took action to combat an often-overlooked form of race discrimination involving employee’s hair. In February 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”) published new guidance that explains that employers (as well as housing providers and providers of public accommodations) can no…
Case Study: Was Jonathan Martin the Victim of an Unlawful Hostile Work Environment under New Jersey Law?
ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Good Morning America and probably even your own Facebook page, have been flooded with varying opinions on the Miami bullying/harassment scandal. This blog entry is written by our New Jersey Employment Lawyers to analyze the facts, as reported, to determine whether a hostile work environment existed that…