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Many people believe that it is illegal in New Jersey for a boss or supervisor to bully their subordinates. This is certainly unfair and should not be permitted by the company. However, New Jersey Employment Law does not protect employees from bullying and the hostile work environment that people experience as a result of the bullying. It is only illegal if you can demonstrate that the bullying was due to a protected characteristic under the NJ Law Against Discrimination. That means that you would need to show that the bullying was a result of your race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other protected characteristic.
We receive numerous calls a day about bullying in the workplace and, unfortunately, there is usually nothing we can do but suggest that the client report the conduct to Human Resources. There is an anti0bullying law pending before the New Jersey Legislature, but it has not been signed into law and we do not expect that to happen in the near future.