New Jersey Injury Attorney Blog

A female employee in Hamilton Township has filed a discrimination lawsuit against her employer, alleging she suffered sexual harassment. According to a recent article in The Times, the woman states that she was subjected to racial slurs as well as jokes about her sexual orientation. The woman said she found nooses hanging in her work area and was physically groped by a female co-worker. The woman accused of groping her was suspended. However, in the lawsuit, the woman alleges that the sexual harassment and mistreatment occurred over the years and involved several supervisors and co-workers.

Sexual and other types of harassment in a workplace should never be tolerated. Harassment in the workplace can be verbal, and may involve off-color or offensive jokes about the person's gender, race, or sexual orientation. Nonverbal harassment can involve someone forwarding obscene materials via email, making insulting comments, or making obscene motions or noises. Physical harassment includes undesired touching, rubbing, pinching, grabbing, groping, or assault.

Victims of sexual harassment in New Jersey can be men or women, and the harassers may be of the same or opposite sex. It is the employer's responsibility to keep their employees safe and maintain a safe, harassment-free workplace. If you believe that your employer has been ineffective in protecting you from any type of harassment, you would be well-advised to seek the counsel of an experienced lawyer.

The Princeton sexual harassment victim attorneys at Lependorf & Silverstein have years of successfully protecting and upholding the rights of New Jersey workers who have suffered harassment. We will carefully review your case and ensure that the wrongdoers are held accountable. If you have been harassed while on the job in New Jersey, please contact us at 609-240-0040 to find out how we can help you.

Sony Music has agreed to pay a former employee $20,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, according to NJ.com. The employee was allegedly harassed because he is gay.

The man was employed at a compact disc manufacturing plant in Pitman, New Jersey. He was hired on a temporary basis as a machine operator in 2008. According to the man, three different times between May 2009 and August 2009, he reported to management that he was being sexually harassed. He says his co-workers were making comments about his homosexuality, and slurs were allegedly written about him near his work area and on a men’s bathroom wall.

The former employee also alleges Sony did not promote him to a full-time position because he was gay. Sony denied the allegation and said that he was not promoted because he had few qualifications and poor attendance. Authorities say that Sony investigated the employee’s complaints and tried to fix them by holding a meeting about the company’s policies, and by removing one of the man’s co-workers. The former employee filed a complaint with the Division on Civil Rights in August of 2009, and he was terminated shortly thereafter.

Sony has agreed to pay the man $20,000 and to give him a neutral reference if contacted by a prospective employer. Sony does not admit any wrongdoing.

Companies must maintain a safe working environment for employees that is free of unfair and unjust discrimination. If you feel you have been the victim of sexual harassment in your workplace, contact the New Jersey sexual harassment attorneys at Lependorf & Silverstein. Call them at 609-240-0040 for a free consultation on your sexual harassment case.

A New Jersey company has agreed to pay $325,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving allegations that Closter’s top administrator exposed female employees to pornography. According to this news report, the settlement took place December 5, 2008 between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and defendants AmerTac Holding and American Tack & Hardware required the companies to provide anti-discrimination training and information to employees in addition to the payout.

The New Jersey sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the commission five years ago on behalf of 13 women claimed that John Di Stefano exposed them to pornographic images on his computers on a daily basis while calling them derogatory names. Di Stefano was the vice president of information technology at the company between 2001 and 2002.

In this case, the company official’s unwanted sexual behavior or sexual references created a hostile working environment for those women, who were obviously embarrassed and humiliated by his behavior. Sexual harassment in the workplace can come in different forms – verbal, nonverbal or physical harassment.

It is the employer’s responsibility to keep employees safe and maintain a healthy environment for them. If you have been a victim of sexual harassment in New Jersey and believe that your employer has done nothing to protect you from such harassment, you need to seek legal advice from an experienced New Jersey sexual harassment victim attorney. Please call Lependorf & Silverstein for a free consultation today.