Nutley Law Blog

Workplace bullies come in all shapes and sizes -- but complaining to human resources or a boss about a bully has to be done carefully. Otherwise, you might be the person who ends up fired -- just for complaining!

Here's the most critical thing that you need to understand about workplace bullying: There is no law against it if it's just general bad behavior. You are only legally protected from bullying as long as you are being targeted due to your race, religion, age, disability, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. Those are the categories that are legally protected from intimidation and harassment.

Most people probably think that the rampant sexualization of airline workers went out around the time "flight attendant" replaced the term "stewardess."

Unfortunately, flight attendants are frequently targeted for sexual harassment even today. In fact, 68 percent of flight attendants say that they have experienced sexual harassment from passengers several times in their careers.

If you use medical marijuana in New Jersey, there's some distressing news you should hear. Despite its legalization under state law, your use of medical marijuana isn't afforded any protections under the state's anti-discrimination laws.

A recent case in federal court addressed the issue. A New Jersey forklift operator alleged that he was using medical marijuana to control pain from an old injury. He was honest about his use of the drug with his employer when he was initially hired on by the company, and he worked six years without an incident -- or any apparent problem on the company's part.

If you work in the restaurant industry, it probably doesn't surprise you to learn that incidents of sexual harassment are commonplace. Little seems to be changing despite all the focus in recent years on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Why is sexual harassment among restaurant employees so common? There are a number of reasons that may contribute to this:

• There is a pro-customer mentality that tends to overlook bad behavior for the sake of business.
• Many of the employees are low-paid workers who rely on tips, which encourages them to be compliant, despite abuses.
• Many servers are also young, which makes them more likely to be unsure how to respond to incidents of harassment and less assertive.
• In establishments that serve alcohol, some customers use that as an excuse to act in abusive ways.
• Managers, chefs and owners have a tremendous amount of control over the day-to-day operations, which can be intimidating and cause employees to fear retaliation if they speak up.
• There's a gender imbalance in many restaurants, with males making up much of management and females making up much of the staff -- which also creates a power imbalance divided by gender.