Discriminated Against At Work? Know Your Rights

In New Jersey employment barring a contractual agreement is at "at will." This means an employer may terminate you at any time for any reason or no reason without notice. Fortunately, the New Jersey legislature and the federal government have carved out a number of exceptions in the Law Against Discrimination.

If the employer fires you because of your age, race, religion, disability, requires conduct that violates public policy, because your acting as " whistle blower," gender discrimination, or pregnancy discrimination, you may have a right to money damages . Furthermore, if you have a disability you may be entitled to some form of reasonable accommodation. If the employer takes adverse action because you complained that a " hostile" work environment exists, you may also have legal rights. A hostile work environment is a term of art. It means that your employer does not have a mechanism for you to complain about a co-worker or supervisor engaging in such discriminatory conduct as sexual harassment, having pornographic materials around the work place, allowing racial, ethnic, religious slurs to exist.

Finally, you may have an employee handbook, which also, provides you rights. Does the employee handbook contain a conspicuous statement that it does not create a contract?