Military Retaliation

Can My Employer Retaliate Against Me Because I Serve or Have Served in the Armed Forces?

The New Jersey military retaliation attorneys at Lenzo & Reis want every current member of our armed forces as well as all of your veterans to know that retaliation against current, past and future service men and women because of their military service is illegal under both state and federal law. Specifically, USERRA, which is also known as the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, and the New Jersey LAD, which is more formally known as the Law Against Discrimination, both protect against unlawful retaliation against service members.

Who Is Protected From Military Retaliation?

Company employers often take the position that the protections of the Law Against Discrimination extend only to those who are subject to being ordered into active service because of membership in armed services because of how the law is written. But the New Jersey military retaliation lawyers at Lenzo & Reis have successfully argued that the law clearly makes it unlawful to retaliate against anyone because of their past, current or future military service. That means that USERRA and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination make it unlawful for employers to retaliate against their current workers and/or applicants for jobs because of their past, present, or future service or application for service in the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, National Guard, Air National Guard, Coast Guard, or Public Health Service commissioned corps. Certain disaster work is also entitled to the anti-retaliation protections guaranteed by USERAA.

Employees and job applicants are protected from retaliation on the basis of their military service regardless of whether they are on active duty or inactive duty. Similarly, current, former, and future servicepersons are protected from retaliation because of military training or their performance of funeral honors. Those same anti-retaliation protections extend to service members when undergoing service-related fitness for duty exams.

Importantly, whether full-time or part-time, all employees who are, were, or will be service members are entitled to the protections against retaliation on the basis of their military service under both the state and federal laws.

What Employers Are Subject to the State and Federal Prohibitions on Military Discrimination?

All employers, regardless of their size, are subject to the anti-retaliation provisions of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and USERAA.

What Does It Mean to Prohibit Retaliation on the Basis of Military Service?

Retaliation against service members generally means treating them differently than non-military employees. Prohibitions on unlawful military retaliation are broad and extend to all aspects of employees’ employment. As such, they are protected from retaliation in hiring decisions, determinations about pay and benefits, re-employment, promotional opportunities, termination decisions as well as those involving demotions. Retaliation in terms of harassment, as opposed to actual adverse actions affecting employees’ terms and conditions of employment, is also unlawful. As such, both state and federal law prohibit illegal retaliatory harassment such as making offensive jokes about military service and/or otherwise making demeaning and/or derogatory remarks about the military service of an employee or job applicant.;

What Should I Do If I am Being Discriminated Against on the Basis of My Military Service?

If you are being retaliated against because of your military service, you should contact the military retaliation attorneys at Lenzo & Reis either by telephone at (973) 845-9922 or email by clicking here. Christopher Lenzo & Claudia Reis have proudly represented many members of our armed services and veterans in retaliation claims. It would be our great honor to represent any of the brave men and women who make up our armed services.