Discriminated against after returning to work from Worker's Compensation

[joeythek]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?

My state is New Jersey.

I was discriminated against by my employer from the first day I returned to work off of worker's compensation.
My work hours were changed, my assignments changed, and I was not treated like a good worker as I had been prior to being out.

In early September I filed a job discrimination claim with the human resources department and nothing was done. Not only did the discrimination continue during the month of September but my assignments took on a retaliation nature.

Although HR said they would look into it and get back to me they never did.

A few weeks ago my car developed problems and I could no longer keep my job because there is no mass transit to take to it.

Can I sue my company for the discrimination practices since they took no initiative to correct the situation? And I am out roughly around $12,000 because of the lack of good work assingments. Can I take them to civil court to get that money?

My company is not unionized.

Thanks

 

[Beth3]

Can I sue my company for the discrimination practices since they took no initiative to correct the situation? And I am out roughly around $12,000 because of the lack of good work assingments. Can I take them to civil court to get that money? No and no.

Discrimination is not at issue in a worker's comp claim however retaliation can be. You haven't provided enough information to determine whether your employer engaged in any retaliation or not. Depending upon how long you were off work and what type of industry you worked in, a change in assignments and work schedule may have been unavoidable.

If your employer did engage in retaliation for your having a WC claim, them your sole recourse is through your State's Worker's Compensation Division. You may file a complaint with them. Given that WC reg's and the process is complex, you may find it very helpful to have the assistance of a WC attorney.

 

[joeythek]

Thank You

Thank you Beth for your response. I am not interested in a worker's comp case. In my state you can file a civil lawsuit for damages under 15,000. I want to file a civil law suit. I was only out 3 months and I have the discrimination very well documented and my job does not require any hour or assignment changes unless one if being punished for something.

And what about Human Resources not responding? In their own Employee Guide Book they state that any accusations of this sort will be looked into asap and a written determination will be made of what action will be taken and what will change in the future. I sat down with them for an hour and discussed my documented evidence and they said they would look into it, and nothing was done, they never got back to me and just kept telling me they were still looking into it. I have over a dozen acts of discrimination and they didn't address any of them. And these are not one time events they happened over and over again within a 9 month period.

Thank you

Joe