Union, New Jersey, Legal Blog

Widespread age discrimination sometimes makes finding a job difficult for older adults in New Jersey. A report released by the AARP strongly suggested that employers favor younger job applicants. An analysis of the language within job postings by the National Bureau of Economic Research supported this claim. The NBER identified the frequent use of words and conditions meant to attract younger job applicants and discourage older ones.

The authors of the NBER study of job postings described linguistic evidence derived from stereotypes of older workers. They exposed numerous examples of job openings that emphasized requirements for physical abilities and technology skills. Job postings stating that applicants had to lift certain amounts of weight or possess experience with specific software could show that those employers wanted to hire young people.

New Jersey residents may be familiar with the video game "League of Legends." Riot Games, the company that publishes the online battle game, has recently been ordered to pay out $10 million for a class-action gender discrimination lawsuit. A thousand female employees of Riot Games will be compensated in varying amounts depending on their length of employment.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 after Kotaku investigated the so-called "bro culture" at Riot that many employees reported experiencing. Twenty-eight people came forward to say that women working at Riot were treated like outsiders and denied the same employment opportunities as their male coworkers. When Riot tried to use legal arbitration to resolve some of the complaints in Spring 2019, many employees walked out of work in response. Riot agreed to settle the lawsuit in August.

An employee who understands workplace rights in New Jersey may be better equipped to confront issues related to sexual harassment or other forms of discrimination. The ability to recognize illegal workplace discrimination and assert legal rights could lead to a solution or prevent a problem from festering.

Federal law defines harassment as severe and pervasive conduct that intimidates or abuses an employee. Someone sexually assaulted at work would have a clear case of a hostile and abusive workplace, but most cases involve ongoing mistreatment inspired by the person's sex. Conduct, such as offensive jokes, lewd pictures, requests for sex or gender-driven insults, could meet the legal standard of what reasonable people would view as sexual harassment.

Despite there being laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against women because of pregnancy, that sort of discrimination remains a problem in New Jersey and across the country. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reportedly received 2,790 pregnancy discrimination complaints in 2018 alone, and a staff attorney for the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union said that figure likely underestimates the number of workers who are impacted by pregnancy discrimination.

The ACLU staff attorney also pointed out that the number of complaints for pregnancy discrimination increased by almost 50% from 1997 to 2011. According to an estimate by the National Partnership on Women and Families, as many as 250,000 pregnant women annually do not receive the accommodations they are entitled to under the law. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed in 1978, amending the already-existing Civil Rights Act. Under the PDA, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against a worker due to childbirth, pregnancy or a medical condition related to childbirth or pregnancy.