While conscious or intentional mistreatment of minorities is typically the province of a relatively small number of bigots who live among us, it is the insidious existence of unrecognized, unconscious, or implicit racial bias in our society which has and continues to systemically threaten and undermine the achievement of racial…
The United States Supreme Court unanimously held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) cannot restrict education-related benefits provided by its member schools to student-athletes. The decision in NCAA v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021) arises out of a class-action lawsuit filed by current and former Division I student-athletes against…
A supervisor’s use of isolated but offensive racial slurs directed at and in the presence of an employee can give rise to a claim for a hostile work environment under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) on their own. Rios v. Meda Pharm., Inc., 2021 N.J. LEXIS 553 (June 16,…
Under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD), when an employee suffers injury due to their employer’s failure to accommodate his or her disability, the employer is liable for discrimination under LAD even when no direct economic harm or other form of adverse employment action was taken by the employer against…
Older doctors in New Jersey who are required to undergo medical screening examinations as a condition of maintaining hospital staff privileges likely have the right to sue for age discrimination under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A., 10:5-1, et seq. (“LAD”). Supporting this conclusion is the belief held by the…
The failure to establish a causal nexus between protected whistleblowing activity and the termination of her employment was the demise of plaintiff’s whistleblowing claim in a recently issued Appellate Division opinion in Brown v. Regina Foley, et. al. 2021 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 957 (decided May 20, 2021). In Brown,…
The New Jersey Supreme Court recently addressed, among other issues, the question of whether a “suggested course of action” by a supervisor to a subordinate can suffice as a reasonable belief under New Jersey’s whistleblower law that the supervisor wants the subordinate to engage in conduct that violates law or…
Attorneys who violate the “Golden Rule” when providing a closing summation to a jury at trial risk losing a verdict for their clients, so says the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division in Morgan v. Willie Maxwell II, et. al., 2021 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 718 (decided April 26, 2021).…
Vincent Hager suffered serious work-related back injuries on a construction job while working for M&K Construction. He underwent surgeries and was prescribed opioid medication for his chronic pain which did not provide him adequate relief. Hager then enrolled in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program for pain management and to overcome…
Although there is no bright-line rule as to what constitutes an adverse employment action, New Jersey state and federal courts have held that actions causing direct economic harm (such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, or adjusting wages or benefits) qualify as adverse actions sufficient to support a prima facie case of…