Employees in New Jersey are legally protected from facing discrimination in the workplace. Discrimination occurs when an individual faces hostile treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, gender, sexual orientation or age.
Sadly, discrimination still happens on occasion and people of any age may be targeted. If you’re facing age discrimination, what can you do about it?
Gather evidence
While any complaint you make should be taken seriously, it would help your case if you collect evidence. If there are colleagues that you trust, ask them if they would be willing to make official statements on your behalf. Also, you should keep a written record of the times and dates that you suffered discrimination.
Raise the issue with management
Once you have a detailed account of the incident(s), you can take this to management or the Human Resources department. They have a legal duty to take discrimination complaints seriously.
When you approach them with objective evidence, they must conduct an impartial investigation and get to the root of the problem. Then, disciplinary measures can be taken to help ensure that the same does not happen again.
Escalate the complaint
If for some reason management doesn’t believe you and they fail to act, you do have further options. You can raise a legal complaint against the company. This can be carried out in line with state laws in New Jersey as well as federal anti-discrimination laws.
Doing this is a big step that you shouldn’t take on your own. Make sure you have legal guidance behind you so that you are fully protected.