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Your career should not be negatively impacted because of discrimination. In New Jersey, you are protected against discrimination in the workplace by a broad piece of legislation known as the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

The Law Against Discrimination, or LAD for short, ensures that you cannot be discriminated against at work because of race, age, religion, creed, disability or sexual orientation. But, it is not always easy to recognize discrimination based on one of these protected statuses. A new amendment to the New Jersey LAD will help workers investigate whether they have been discriminated against in terms of pay or benefits without fear of reprisal from their employer.

Employees may ask their coworkers about salary and other information

Most discrimination is not blatantly obvious -- a boss will rarely tell an employee that he or she is being terminated because of race, or being paid less than another worker because of religion. This is why employees who have been discriminated against need help from discrimination lawyers to investigate and prove their claims. Approved by Governor Chris Christie and in effect as of August 29, the New Jersey LAD amendment will help make the process of exposing discrimination easier on workers and their lawyers.

Essentially, the amendment to the LAD prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for discussing aspects of their compensation with other employees or former employees. Under the new legislation, an employee may not be fired, demoted or otherwise punished for asking another employer about his or her pay rate, benefits or job category. Employees may also ask their coworkers about other information relevant to a discrimination investigation, like their national origin, race or ethnicity.

The important caveat to this measure is that in order to be protected against reprisals, inquiries to other employers about rate of pay and other information must be made for the purpose of taking legal action against or investigating the possibility of discrimination that involves pay or benefits. Of course, the employee who is asked to provide the information is not required to answer -- the decision of whether or not to provide such information is left up to each individual.

Contact a New Jersey lawyer today and expose discrimination in the workplace

At the heart of a discrimination claim is proving that you have been treated differently by your employer for an invalid reason. It is difficult, however, to show that you are being treated differently if you do not know how other employees are being treated. The new update to the New Jersey LAD will bolster transparency in the workplace and help ensure that you are protected when gathering the information you may need to pursue a discrimination claim.

If you believe you may have been discriminated against at work, talk to a New Jersey discrimination lawyer today and begin the investigation of your case.