Union County

Attorneys Advocating for Employees in Union County

Union County is the seventh-most populous county in New Jersey. Major employers in Union County include Trinitas Hospital, Alcatel-Lucent, Maher Terminals, Merck & Co., New England Motor Freight, Children’s Specialized Hospital, and Conoco Phillips. Employers in Union County must abide by New Jersey laws and federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination and other forms of workplace misconduct. If you believe that your employer has infringed on your rights, you should consult the Union County employment lawyers at Phillips & Associates.

Employment Discrimination in New Jersey

State and federal laws prohibit employment discrimination. Discrimination happens if you are treated adversely in an employment decision because you belong to a protected class (see below for a list of the protected classes) You might face employment discrimination if you are terminated, not hired, not promoted, paid differently, or you are harassed because of your protected characteristic. Sometimes there are multiple protected characteristics that can be covered by one discriminatory decision. For example, if you are not hired because you are a woman of color, and for that reason, the employer does not think that you can do the job, you may have claims of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and color.

State Laws

The state anti-discrimination law that applies to employers in Union County is the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). This law prohibits intentionally discriminatory acts that relate to a range of protected characteristics, including an employee’s color, race, creed, national origin, ancestry, nationality, religion, pregnancy, gender/sex, age, domestic partnership or civil union or marital status, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, or disability, as well as sexual harassment. Disability discrimination encompasses both physical and mental disabilities, as well as HIV and AIDS. Our employment attorneys can assist Union County employees with bringing claims based on discrimination related to any of these protected characteristics.

You may also be entitled to take leave under the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), and you should not face discrimination because you exercised your right to take this leave. This state law provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of job-protected time off during a 24-month period for specific reasons. You can take the leave to bond with a child to whom you just gave birth or to take care of a family member who suffers from a medical condition that requires your care. As of June 30, 2019, your employer may be covered by this law if it has a minimum of 30 employees. Prior to then, an employer needed to have at least 50 employees to be covered.

Federal Laws

Federal laws that prohibit discrimination include the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, and religion. If you wish to bring a claim under one of the federal anti-discrimination laws, in most cases, your Union County employment attorney will need to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces many of the federal anti-discrimination laws. There are time limits to bringing a charge, and there are also time limits to filing suit in court. This makes it important to talk to an attorney about your specific situation.

Contact an Aggressive Advocate for Employee Rights

Employment discrimination and other forms of workplace misconduct, such as harassment, can have significant adverse consequences, both financial and emotional, for an employee. If you are ready to assert your rights against your employer or former employer in Union County, contact the employment lawyers at Phillips & Associates. Our firm can be reached at (866) 229-9441 or through our online form.