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Sexual Harassment
Experienced New Jersey Employment Discrimination Lawyers Holding Employers Accountable for Permitting Hostile Work Environments
Sexual harassment can drain your confidence, disrupt your career, and make every workday feel unsafe. You do not have to accept it. Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), employees are protected from any unwelcome conduct or pressure that targets them because of their gender, sexuality, or sex-based stereotypes. At Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C., our Bergen County sexual harassment lawyers help workers across North Jersey and throughout the state stop the mistreatment, hold employers accountable, and recover the compensation they deserve.
What Counts as Sexual Harassment in New Jersey?
Harassment is illegal when it is because of your sex or gender, whether or not the behavior is overtly sexual. Common examples include:
- Crude jokes, slurs, or insults about women or men.
- Comments about body parts, clothing, or pregnancy status.
- Unwelcome flirting, requests for dates, or explicit sexual propositions.
- Staring, leering, or other sexualized looks.
- Unwanted touching, such as grabbing, brushing, hugging, or patting.
- Displaying pornography or sexually suggestive images in the workplace.
- Mocking an employee for not fitting traditional gender roles.
Harassment can come from supervisors, co-workers, subordinates, vendors, or customers. It also can be committed by people of the same sex as the victim.
“Severe or Pervasive”: When Bad Behavior Becomes Illegal
To support a claim of sexual harassment, the conduct must be severe (so serious that one incident creates a hostile environment) or pervasive (frequent) enough to make the workplace intimidating, hostile, or abusive. A single sexual assault or a supervisor’s use of a vile slur might clear the “severe” bar. A long pattern of lewd remarks, suggestive texts, or unwelcome touching could satisfy the “pervasive” standard, even if individual each event might seem minor on its own.
Employer Responsibility and Notice
Courts treat sexual harassment differently depending on who is engaging in the harassing behavior.
- Supervisor harassment: When the harasser is a supervisor, manager, or boss with power over your job, the company usually is liable for the higher-up’s conduct.
- Co-worker harassment: If a co-worker is engaging in harassment, an employer is liable once management knows (or should know) about the misconduct but fails to take steps to resolve it.
Most companies adopt written anti-harassment policies that encourage employees to report problems to Human Resources (HR). Using this channel helps create a record and puts management on notice. If the policy is confusing, lacking, or ignored, then the company should not be able to hide behind it in court.
Quid Pro Quo Harassment: Career Pressure for Sexual Favors
If a supervisor hints that raises, schedules, or continued employment depend on dating or sexual activity—sometimes phrased as “play along if you want to keep your job”—that is quid pro quo harassment. One incident can be enough to establish liability. You do not necessarily have to prove an ongoing hostile environment.
Digital and Remote Harassment
Slack messages, direct chats and video-call comments can form the basis for a sexual harassment claim. So can late-night text messages, explicit memes, or social-media DMs from a co-worker. If this is happening to you, be sure to save all screenshots or download the message threads.
Retaliation Is Illegal
Under New Jersey law, employers cannot retaliate against anyone for engaging in protected activity. For example, this means employers cannot fire, demote, change shifts, or cut the pay of anyone who:
- Reports sexual harassment internally.
- Files a charge with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR) or the EEOC.
- Supports or testifies in another employee’s case.
In some cases, a retaliation claim is stronger than the underlying harassment claim, so you should document every adverse action that follows your complaint.
Remedies Available Under NJLAD
If you can establish that your employer engaged in sexual harassment, you may be entitled to damages, which can include:
- Back pay (past damages) and lost benefits.
- Front pay (future damages).
- Emotional-distress damages.
- Punitive damages when the employer’s upper management participated in conduct that was especially reckless or malicious.
- Attorneys’ fees and costs.
Courts also may order policy revisions and manager training to prevent future abuse.
Steps to Strengthen Your Case
If you suspect sexual harassment in the workplace, it can be important that you take certain steps to protect yourself and your right to pursue a claim against your employer.
- Keep a diary of every incident: date, time, place, witnesses, and exact words or actions.
- Save evidence: emails, chats, voicemails, performance reviews, and scheduling changes.
- Follow internal procedures if safe to do so—report to HR or a designated manager.
- Consult a Bergen County sexual harassment lawyer before signing any employer statement or settlement offer.
Why Choose Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C.?
At Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C., our employment discrimination attorneys have decades of experience litigating NJLAD claims and have secured significant settlements and verdicts for workers across Bergen County. While every case is different, we routinely analyze the facts and circumstances of your case to determine the best way to enforce your employment law rights, whether through negotiation, litigation or arbitration.
Take Back Your Power—Call a Bergen County Sexual Harassment Lawyer Today
You deserve a workplace free from harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. If you feel trapped by unwanted conduct or punished for speaking up, let us help. Call 201-777-2250 or contact us online for a confidential consultation with a Bergen County sexual harassment lawyer at Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C.