Can An Employer In New Jersey Refuse To Hire Me Or Refuse To Promote Me Because I’m More Than 70 Years Old?

No, an employer in New Jersey may not refuse to hire you or to promote you for the sole reason that you are more than 70 years old.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (the “NJLAD”) makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy or breastfeeding, sex, gender identity or expression, disability or atypical hereditary cellular, or blood trait of any individual, or because of the liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States or the nationality of any individual, or because of the refusal to submit to a genetic test or make available the results of a genetic test to an employer, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge or require to retire, unless justified by lawful considerations other than age, from employment that individual or to discriminate against that individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Under the NJLAD, and effective October 5, 2021, employers may not refuse to accept for employment or to promote a person because they are more than 70 years of age.

Nor, in New Jersey, may an employer deny employment to an older individual because a younger individual would be able to produce more for the employer in the future.

Similarly, it is impermissible for an employer in New Jersey to select a younger worker for promotion merely because he is more likely to remain with the employer for more years than an older worker.

Employees who file a claim citing age discrimination can seek legal remedies, include punitive damages.

Pursuant to the NJLAD, workers over 70 are subject to the same protections as their younger counterparts. Employees in New Jersey may file suit if the employee believes the employer’s conduct in not hiring or promoting the employee was because of his or her age being over 70 years old.

Under the NJLAD, and effective October 5, 2021, remedies for unlawful failure to hire or to promote an employee because he or she is more than 70 years old include, but are not limited to, reinstatement, back pay, front pay, emotional distress damages, punitive damages, interest, and reasonable counsel fees.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, workers 65 and older comprise 21% of the labor force.

If you are an executive or a professional in New Jersey metro area and you believe that you have been wrongfully terminated, that you’ve been denied salary, bonuses, commissions, or other wages that are owed to you, or that your employer has failed or refused to reasonably accommodate your disability, call the New Jersey Wrongful Termination Lawyer David S. Rich at (201) 740-2828 today.