National Origin Discrimination

Yesterday, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that two racially offensive slurs uttered by a supervisor can be enough to create a hostile work environment in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”).

Armando Rios, Jr. is Hispanic. He worked for Meda Pharmaceutical, Inc. as its Director of Brand Marketing. His immediate supervisor, Tina Cheng-Avery, was Meda’s Senior Director of Commercial Operations.

Mr. Rios claims Ms. Cheng-Avery made two racial slurs toward him. First, he claims that when he was discussing his plans to purchase a new house, Ms. Cheng-Avery said “it must be hard for a Spi*k to have to get FHA loans.” Second, he claims that the following month, when he and Ms. Cheng-Avery were casting actresses for a television commercial for one of Meda’s products, Ms. Cheng-Avery said one of the actress auditioning “would work … if she didn’t look too Spi*ky.” Ms. Cheng-Avery denies she made either of those comments.

Earlier this month, New Jersey’s Appellate Division recognized that New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”)’s prohibition against ancestry discrimination does not prevent employers from discriminating against an individual because he is related to another employee.

In 2011, John Walsifer applied for one of two vacant positions as a police officer with the Borough of Belmar. Of the job applicants, Mr. Walsifer had the second highest score on the Civil Service test. Erik Lieb, a military veteran, was at the top of the Civil Service list. Michael Yee, who already worked for Belmar as a special police officer, was third on the list.

Belmar chose to hire Mr. Lieb and Mr. Yee and did not offer a job to Mr. Walsifer. It was required to give a preference to Mr. Lieb in the hiring process because of his veteran status. The Borough claimed it offered the position to Mr. Yee because of his experience as a special police officer, the related police training he had received, and the fact the he already was authorized to carry a service weapon.

Articles Tagged with National Origin Discrimination

Two Racial Slurs Enough to Create Hostile Work Environment

Decision Based on Family Relationship is Not Ancestry Discrimination