Workplace Discrimination & Equal Pay

Federal and/or state law prohibits discrimination against employees based on certain protected characteristics, including but not limited to, age, gender, race, disability, religion, national origin and sexual orientation. 

For example, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) states:

It shall be an unlawful employment practice, or, as the case may be, an unlawful discrimination:

For an employer, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, genetic information, sex, gender identity or expression, disability or atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait of any individual, or because of the liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States or the nationality of any individual . . . to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge or require to retire . . . from employment such individual or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

The New Jersey Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying employees who are members of a protected class less than their counterparts who perform substantially similar work and are not in a protected class. Protected classes under the New Jersey Equal Pay Act are not limited to gender and instead include all other protected classes under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), including age, race, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and others.

Today’s employers, even those with only moderate sophistication, will neither admit that they discriminated against an employee nor leave a paper-trail demonstrating it. Instead, employers who unlawfully discriminate concoct false reasons for their actions, e.g., that they fired an employee for poor performance or disciplinary reasons. Proving that an employer’s alleged reason for its actions is false is a critical component of a discrimination case. It is imperative that you hire an attorney that is experienced in this area of law and familiar with the tactics and defenses used by companies.

The attorneys at McMoran, O’Connor, Bramley & Burns, P.C. have decades of experience successfully litigating employment discrimination and equal pay claims against employers of all sizes. We have represented hundreds of employees at all levels. Our reputation and record of success in this area of law is unparalleled. We are regularly asked to teach seminars to judges, lawyers and other professionals through the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) and the Judicial College on discrimination law.