New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog
On July 7, 2008, in the case of Roa v. LAFE, the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that retaliation that occurs after an employee was fired can violate the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. § 10:5-1, et seq. The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and places of public accommodation. It also includes an anti-retaliation provision that makes it unlawful for:
any person to take reprisals against any person because that person has opposed any practices or acts forbidden under [the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination]… or to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of that person having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right granted or protected by [the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination].
N.J.S.A. § 10:5-12(d).
Roa involved Fernando and Liliana Roa, a husband and wife who worked for LAFE, a New Jersey corporation. Liliani claimed that LAFE’s Vice President, Marino Roa, engaged in two extramarital affairs with employees of LAFE. Fernando eventually told Marino’s wife about the affairs. According to Fernando and Liliani, Marino then began a campaign of harassment against them. When Fernando told the president of LAFE that Marino was sexually harassing company employees, LAFE ignored his complaint. LAFE eventually fired both Fernando and Liliani.