Juries Across NJ Award Over $15 Million in Employment Cases

There has been an unusual bevy of trials in employment cases in New Jersey across the state in recent weeks. Four trials took place around the same time – 2 against public employers and 2 against private employers – in Essex, Union, Hudson, and Mercer Counties. Every single one resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs. The collective verdicts on those four cases far exceeded $15,000,000. That number does not take into account pre-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees (with enhancements) or costs. So that number is expected to grow significantly.

The largest of the verdicts were against public entities. The jury awarded a former Hudson County Public Schools affirmative action officer nearly $9,000,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in a case involving claims of workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. That verdict has to sting not only because of how high it is but also because the attorneys had negotiated a very respectable settlement of just under $500,000 at the beginning of the case, which settlement the school board ultimately rejected.

The second largest verdict was in Mercer County for over $4,712,000, over $2,000,000 of which was awarded for emotional distress with another $2,000,000 awarded for punitive damages, in a whistleblower case. The other verdict exceeding $1,000,000 was against ADP in a whistleblower case. In that case, the jury awarded $500,000 in back pay, $200,000 in front pay, and another $700,000 in emotional distress.

These cases are all noteworthy because it is unusual to have so many employment cases being tried at the same time but also because each one resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff, the verdicts tended to be eye-poppingly high, and the emotional distress awards were significant.

These cases show that trying employment cases in New Jersey is risky business with real exposure for defendants. That is because those verdicts show that jurors have a deep understanding of and empathy toward the plight of employees as well as a real willingness to right workplace wrongs and punish employers who discriminate, harass, and retaliate.