Our clients often ask what areas are covered by New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. It is illegal in New Jersey to treat employees and people differently based on the following protected characteristics: race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex (including pregnancy), familial status, marital status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for military service, and mental or physical disability, perceived disability, and AIDS and HIV status.
If the discrimination occurs based on a characteristic that is not protected by the Law Against Discrimination, then the discrimination is not illegal. Employment lawyers like to use the example that you can be fired for being a Yankees fan. Is this illegal? No. It is unfair, but being a Yankee fan is not a protected characteristic under the law. Therefore, the discrimination against a Yankee fan is not illegal under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.
For more information, read NJ Employment Discrimination: Types of Discrimination and Remedies.
March 6, 2010 – Tom McKinney – Castronovo & McKinney – New Jersey Discrimination Attorneys