Experienced Lawyers Assisting Victims of Employment Discrimination in Jersey City

Defending your rights to fair treatment

Claims of employment discrimination and wrongful termination can be very hard to prove because the employee must demonstrate that the action in question is truly the result of discriminatory policies or practices. If you believe you have been the victim of employment discrimination, you owe it to yourself to find out if you have a valid legal claim. Experienced attorneys such as the Jersey City lawyers at Zavodnick, Perlmutter & Boccia, LLC can help you make such a determination.

Discrimination in the workplace is against the law

In New Jersey, employers are breaking the law if they discriminate in any aspect of employment — hiring, firing, or promoting — on the basis of:

Reality versus what can be proven in court

One of the hardest tasks for any discrimination lawyer is to find the very fine line between what is real and what is legally provable. Any act of discrimination essentially means that someone has chosen between two alternatives. People and employers make their choices based on an almost countless list of criteria.

The type of discrimination that is prevented by law must be explicitly based on protected criteria such as race or gender. Even if this is a factor in a particular employment decision, proving it in the presence of other, legitimate factors may be difficult.

Most states recognize the concept of at-will employment, which means that both the employer and employee maintain a working relationship as long as both want the relationship to continue. An employee can quit at any time, and the employer can terminate that employment at any time, for no expressed reason. Discriminatory firings are exceptions to this rule, but again, you must be able to prove discrimination to bring a valid legal action.

Proving discrimination in court

Employment discrimination can be proven in court using the following methods:

• Direct method. This method usually involves a comment or admission made by the person who made the discriminatory decision. This is easiest to prove when someone other than the plaintiff was witness to, and is willing to testify regarding, the comment or admission.
• Indirect method. This method is more common, and is divided into three phases:
  • The applicant or employee must prove that he or she was qualified for the job or promotion in question and is of a protected race, sex, ethnicity, religion or other such classification.
  • The employer now retaliates with a legal reason for the decision not to hire or promote the applicant or employee such as lack of qualifications or poor performance.
  • The applicant or employee must now prove that the reason provided by the employer is not true.

An experienced discrimination lawyer, such as those at the Jersey City law firm of Zavodnick, Perlmutter & Boccia, LLC, can help you prove that you are the victim of discrimination.

Helping employees navigate the complex arena of workers compensation claims in New Jersey

At the Jersey City law firm of Zavodnick, Perlmutter & Boccia, LLC, we can help you fight for your rights to fair treatment in the workplace. Contact us to arrange a free consultation about your discrimination case today, either at 201.653.1155 or online. We do not charge you unless your case succeeds. Our office is conveniently located near the Journal Square PATH station and is within walking distance of the Hudson County Court House. If you cannot visit our office because of your injuries, we can meet you in your home or hospital room.