Hostile Work Environment in New Jersey
Cahn & Parra with over 100 years of combined experience is one of New Jerseys preeminent Employment law firms. The focus of our law firm is employment litigation. You need to know your rights and be protected if you are subject of… Hostile Work Environment
To be legally actionable in New Jersey and New York, workplace harassment also has to be “severe” or “pervasive.” … As a result, one extremely severe act of harassment, or a series of relatively minor actions, can create a hostile work environment, and therefore can be legally actionable harassment.
Has Your Boss Been Harassing You?
New Jersey Workplace Harassment Law Attorneys
Employers in New Jersey have an obligation to provide a workplace that is free from harassment. Indeed, both federal and state law prohibit harassment based on your race, age, gender, pregnancy, mental or physical disability, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, or any other protected category. Harassment is illegal when it creates a hostile work environment and would cause a reasonable person of the same protected category to feel humiliated or intimidated such that the terms and conditions of employment are altered.
Like discrimination, however, harassment is only unlawful in New Jersey if it is based on a legally protected category, such as your race, age, sex (gender), pregnancy, mental or physical disability, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or military/veteran status. Accordingly, “equal opportunity offenders,” or bosses that equally mistreat all employees regardless of their protected categories, generally speaking, may not be guilty of unlawful workplace harassment, depending on the circumstances.
To be legally actionable in New Jersey, workplace harassment also has to be “severe” or “pervasive.” Severity deals with offensiveness of the act(s) in question, while pervasiveness deals with their frequency. As a result, one extremely severe act of harassment, or a series of relatively minor actions, can create a hostile work environment, and therefore can be legally actionable harassment. However, a limited number of relatively minor acts might not be enough to give rise to a harassment claim.
Examples of actions which can be part of a hostile work environment can include physical touching and assaults, inappropriate or insulting comments and jokes, racial, sexual or other epithets, explicit emails or pictures, excessive yelling, screaming or swearing, less desirable job assignments, undeserved verbal or written reprimands, and other offensive or demeaning conduct that is motivated by your race, age, gender, pregnancy, mental or physical disability, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, or any other protected category.
Harassment need not be committed by a supervisor or manager in order to be actionable. Employers have an obligation to protect employees from all forms of workplace harassment, and under certain circumstances, employers may be held liable for the actions of non-supervisory co-workers who commit harassment.
If you believe that you have suffered from workplace harassment and/or a hostile work environment, please contact Cahn & Parra employment attorneys to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced employment lawyers .
Cahn & Parra, LLC – Experienced, Professional & Aggressive Attorneys Fighting for Your Rights
At Cahn & Parra we fight against all forms of hostile work environments. A leader among New Jersey & Pennsylvania employment law firms, we have worked on numerous cases that have improved employment law rights for employees.
Our success is derived from the aggressive, dedicated representation we provide to each client. If you have suffered a hostile work environment, contact us immediately at (732)650-0444 let the attorneys of Cahn & Parra with over 100 Years Experience help get you the Compensation you DESERVE
Our offices are located in Edison, NJ and Allentown, PA.