Following is a hypothetical on-the-job scenario applicable to a New Jersey worker with a proven work history in either a private company or a government agency/department.
Notwithstanding its fictional presentation, some readers of this blog post might likely see the following narrative from a real-life perspective. Candidly, such tales play out frequently in workplaces spanning the country.
To wit: You have a lengthy and accomplished resume with your employer. Your personal history is marked by a series of solid performance reviews, steady promotions, salary increases and a proven ability to interact with coworkers in a true team mode.
And then the bottom falls out. You are stunned by a summary summons to a supervisor’s office, where you are lectured regarding a litany of alleged shortcomings. Those claimed deficiencies are formally inserted into your personnel file. You go home full of fears, which are soon realized by a follow-up communication from your company that entails some shocking news.
Morph to the above-cited real world. That adverse employer communique actually targets legions of American workers in myriad jobs and industries every day.
And it plays out in various ways.
Calling it what it is: when a worker is unlawfully retaliated against
Experienced employees’ rights attorneys frequently underscore for valued and diverse clients the pretextual nature of negative company actions against them. Workplace reprisals often have no link whatever to job performance. Indeed, it is often the case that they owe to a management strategy aimed at undermining an employee’s workplace rights and prerogatives only because of a singular attribute/characteristic or some disliked – yet lawful – action the employee undertook.
Any such reprisal is legally taboo. A New Jersey employee is safeguarded at the workplace by a host of strongly protective federal and state laws that address employer misconduct and help victims secure meaningful remedies against it.
Those laws are duly spotlighted on the website of one authoritative New Jersey legal source discussing unlawful employer retaliation and targeted workers’ whistleblower rights. Employees are often singled out for punitive company treatment because they had the courage to step forward and report unlawful corporate behavior. Bad-faith managers respond in various ways, with retaliation including acts like these:
- Demotion and/or transfer
- Exclusion from team projects and initiatives
- Wage cuts
- Unfair performance ratings
- Overt and subtle intimidation and threats
- Job termination
As noted, such actions that follow a worker’s raised concerns about company malfeasance – such as labor violations, safety lapses, fraud and more – are illegal. Whistleblowers with the courage to act are often key players in government civil litigation and can personally secure sizable money recoveries.
Workers are legally empowered – not powerless – at the workplace. Questions or concerns regarding employee rights can be directed to an experienced and empathetic employment law legal team.