Legal Question in Employment Law in New Jersey
I have worked for this company for approximately 4 years and I havent recieved a raise yet. I was also written_up off here-say from an annonymous "older" employee(not a manager or supervisor) for cell phone usage (without an exact violation day or location, no details????). When I mentioned something about it to the Administrator, I was told the write-up would stand. Then about 4 months later, I was suspended for a day for a small lip piercing. This was strange to me because there are other employees who have piercings similar to mine. One girl in particular has a nose ring and a tattoo on her foot and she wears open toed shoes in our clenical area,which is against the health protection rules.When I asked in reference to her not being repirmanded while they harass me about my piercing, the Administrator, told me to not worry about others, to be a leader andnotfollower, and that telling information about her being repirmanded would be a violation to her rights of privacy. Not too long after another employee, that works at one of our branches, told me that Dr. Rubin had told her about me being suspended for my lip ring. I then spoke to the Administrator and he said that was wrong by Dr. Rubin and he would speak to him, but i never heard from him again about the situation. My question is should he too have told the employee whogotmewritten up to worry about themselves and be a leader not a follwer instead of writing me up???....Did Dr. Rubin violate my rights to privacy by disclosing information about me to another employee??? Ihave print-outs of emails between the administrator and I dealing with these matters.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I am not familiar with all the facts in your situation and am not your attorney. The following should not be taken as legal advice.
The bad news is that employers have every right to treat employees badly, except for unlawful acts. This means that its acceptable to treat employees differently, so long as the difference is not based on an unlawful basis, such as discrimination. Now, if the employer is treating you differently because of your race/age/sex/religion, etc. and only uses the disciplinary policy as a pretext, you may have a valid claim.
As far as your concerns about privacy, as long as the disseminated information is true, I am not aware of any limitations on the employer's right to share it with others. If you have an employee handbook or contract, this may substantially alter the rights I have described.
If you think you may have been discriminated against and would like to talk further, please feel free to call me at 856-874-9090. Please ask for Dan.
Good luck, Dan
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