New Jersey Race Discrimination Lawyers Representing Employees Facing Unequal Treatment and Racial Harassment

Reviewed by Jonathan I. Nirenberg, a New Jersey employment discrimination attorney and Partner at Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. Last updated October 5, 2026.

Race discrimination at work seldom announces itself. More often, it begins with something like a transfer to a less desirable shift, or write-ups for conduct that coworkers of another race commit without consequence. Sometimes it starts with a new manager’s remark about the employee’s hair or taste in music, followed by sudden scrutiny of their work that no one had questioned before.

Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. is a Bergen County firm whose New Jersey race discrimination lawyers represent employees statewide. We handle all kinds of employment discrimination claims, including discrimination because you are Latino/Hispanic, Asian, Black/African American, Caucasian/White, Native American, Middle Eastern, or belong to another race. We can review what happened to you and tell you whether it fits a claim the law recognizes to be unlawful.

When Does Unequal Treatment Become Unlawful Race Discrimination?

Race discrimination is negative treatment in employment because of an employee’s race. N.J.S.A. § 10:5-12(a) makes it unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire a job applicant, to discharge an employee, or to treat an employee differently in compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment on that basis. The prohibition reaches decisions resting on racial stereotypes or unconscious bias, as well as open hostility. It protects employees of every race.

An employee usually proves a claim indirectly, by showing the employer’s stated reason for a decision is not the real one, or that it treated similarly situated employees of a different race better. Direct evidence, such as a decision-maker’s racial remark tied to the decision itself, is less common, but can change the course of a case considerably.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination covers employers regardless of their size. Its definition of “employer” includes all persons, the State, and its political subdivisions, with no minimum employee count. An employee of a five-person business in Bergen County has the same protection against race discrimination as an employee of a large corporation. That is not true under Title VII, a federal law which applies only to employers with 15 or more employees.

How Does Race Discrimination Show Up in the Workplace?

Most race discrimination claims begin with a concrete employment decision. For example, one common pattern is severe discipline, such as a lengthy suspension or termination, imposed on one employee for conduct that coworkers of another race commit with little or no consequence. Another is a promotion that repeatedly goes to less experienced candidates. Others involve assignment to lower-paying shifts or less visible accounts, or layoff selections that fall disproportionately on employees of a particular race. Some employers even steer employees of color away from customer-facing roles, on the theory that clients supposedly will relate better to someone else. The LAD does not permit that reasoning.

Warning signs often appear before the decision itself. A run of undeserved or overly harsh negative performance evaluations after years of positive ones is one. So is a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with goals that no one could meet, or an explanation for a decision that changes each time it is given. Each can indicate that the stated reason is not the real one.

Data shows how often these claims arise. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 29,338 charges alleging race discrimination under Title VII in fiscal year 2025, according to its published enforcement and litigation statistics. That figure does not count complaints filed only with state agencies such as the DCR, or cases filed in a court without filing with any agency.

When Does Racial Harassment Become a Hostile Work Environment?

Racial harassment is unlawful when it is severe or pervasive enough that a reasonable person of the employee’s race would consider the conditions of their employment to have been altered. In Taylor v. Metzger, 152 N.J. 490 (1998), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a jury could find a single extremely offensive racial epithet directed at a sheriff’s officer by the county sheriff was sufficiently severe to create a hostile work environment, and it reinstated her claim.

Whether harassment is sufficiently severe or pervasive is a sliding scale. Repeated jokes, graffiti, and negative remarks can meet this test through accumulation. One extremely severe remark can meet it through severity, especially when it comes from a supervisor or someone else with authority over the employee’s job.

Conduct by coworkers is evaluated differently from conduct by supervisors. Employer liability for racial harassment by coworkers or managers depends in part on what the employer knew, and how it responded.

Related Discrimination Claims

Color and national origin are related but separate protected categories under the same subsection of the LAD. Color discrimination can occur between people of the same race, such as a supervisor who favors lighter-skinned employees over darker-skinned ones. National origin relates to where you are from, and ancestry relates to where your family is from. A single set of facts can support claims under more than one of these categories.

Bias based on skin tone, including preferences within a single racial group, is addressed on our page covering color discrimination in New Jersey workplaces.

Treatment tied to an employee’s birthplace, accent, or family heritage can support a claim for national origin discrimination, which the LAD protects as its own category.

The LAD also separately protects ancestry, a category that reaches discrimination based on an employee’s lineage or ethnic descent.

Hairstyles and Other Traits Linked to Race

Since December 19, 2019, New Jersey’s CROWN Act, the Create a Respectful and Open Workspace for Natural Hair Act, has defined race under N.J.S.A. § 10:5-5 to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles. The statute names braids, locks, and twists as examples of protective hairstyles. A grooming policy that bars those hairstyles, or discipline for wearing them, can support a race discrimination claim. These disputes often arrive framed as neutral rules about a “professional appearance.” However, a policy applied only to employees wearing locs or braids is not neutral in practice, no matter how it is worded.

What Can a Race Discrimination Claim Recover, and When Must It Be Filed?

A successful LAD plaintiff can recover back pay, front pay, and damages for emotional distress. The statute also shifts attorney’s fees to a prevailing employee, meaning your employer could be required to pay your legal fees. Punitive damages are available where upper management took part in especially egregious conduct or was willfully indifferent to it.

An employee can bring the claim before the DCR, or file directly in the Superior Court, where the case can be heard by a jury.

The LAD does not specify its own statute of limitations. In Montells v. Haynes, 133 N.J. 282 (1993), the New Jersey Supreme Court filled that gap by applying the two-year period that applies to personal injury cases. Most LAD claims therefore must be filed in the Superior Court within two years. That clock generally runs separately for each discrete act, such as a demotion, a denied promotion, or a termination. A hostile work environment claim is treated differently, and can be timely if at least one act that is part of the pattern falls within the two-year period.

The 180-day window for a DCR complaint is far shorter. It operates independently of the court deadline, so missing it does not forfeit a lawsuit.

Federal law is different. A Title VII claim requires an employee to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC. In New Jersey, the deadline to file with the EEOC is 300 days.

Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. has practiced employee-side employment law in New Jersey for more than three decades. Many of the clients we meet who have race discrimination claims already have lost their jobs. If you were let go, we can assess the discharge alongside the treatment that came before it, and tell you whether the facts support a wrongful termination claim.

What Evidence Proves a Race Discrimination Claim?

Comparator evidence usually carries a lot of weight in a race discrimination case. Disciplinary files, attendance records, and promotion decisions for coworkers of a different race who held the same job, reported to the same supervisor, and engaged in similar conduct can show whether the employer applied one standard or two. Those records are in the employer’s possession, and ordinarily have to be obtained through discovery.

Racial remarks are evaluated by who made them, when, and how close they were to the decision. A slur from the manager a month before he approved the termination decision carries far more weight than a coworker’s comment years earlier. Contemporaneous texts, chat messages, and emails carry weight because they typically were written before anyone anticipated a lawsuit. Statistical patterns, such as the racial makeup of employees selected for a layoff, can support a claim but rarely establish one alone.

How We Approach Race Discrimination Cases

At Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C., our New Jersey race discrimination attorneys typically start with a timeline because the sequence of events frequently shows what a single document cannot. We then try to identify who made each pertinent decision, what that person knew, and how that person treated employees of other races.

From there, we test the employer’s explanation. An employer typically offers a reason that sounds legitimate. Our job is to measure it against the evidence, including records, witnesses, and the employer’s own policies.

Over the years, our attorneys have represented thousands of employees across the state. We have recovered tens of millions of dollars on their behalf, often by showing that the employer’s reason given for its action was not actually the reason that drove its decision.

Forum choice is part of the strategy. Some claims belong in the Superior Court, such as before a Bergen County jury, while others have to be pursued in federal court. An employee who still is working for the employer faces different risks and remedies than one who already has been fired. We explain those differences before recommending a course of action.

What to Do if You Suspect Race Discrimination at Work

When possible, taking these steps can preserve the facts that your claim may depend upon:

• Write down any racial remark as close as possible to word for word, with the date, the speaker, and who else heard it, as soon as you can after it happens.
• Note which coworkers of a different race committed the same or similar infraction to the one you were disciplined for, and what happened to them.
• Where company policy and the law allow, save emails, texts and chat messages to a personal device before your access ends.
• Record the date of each adverse employment action, since the window to file a case is measured from the date of the conduct you are challenging.
• Hold off on signing any severance agreement or general release until an employment lawyer has read it. Releases routinely waive the right to pursue discrimination claims.
• Keep a copy of the employer’s dress code or grooming policy and any written warning that mentions your hair or appearance.

Common Questions About Race Discrimination Claims

Does the LAD Protect White Employees From Race Discrimination?

Yes. N.J.S.A. § 10:5-12(a) protects employees from discrimination because of race without limiting that protection to any particular race. A Caucasian employee who is passed over, disciplined, or fired because of race could have a claim under the LAD, although the way the claim is proven could differ, depending on the facts.

Can My Employer Fire Me for Complaining About Racist Comments?

An employer may not lawfully do so. N.J.S.A. § 10:5-12(d) makes it unlawful to take reprisals against an employee for opposing practices the LAD forbids. A complaint about racial slurs or racially unequal treatment is that kind of opposition. A retaliation claim stands on its own, so it can succeed whether or not you can prove the underlying discrimination, as long as the complaint was made reasonably and in good faith.

Contact a Bergen County Race Discrimination Lawyer

If you believe race played a part in how you were paid, disciplined, promoted, harassed, or let go, then Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. can review the facts with you and explain what New Jersey law allows you to do. We represent employees in Bergen County and across the state. We will tell you plainly whether we believe the facts support a viable legal claim. Please call (201) 777-2250 or send us a message to schedule a consultation.