In some workplace discrimination lawsuits filed by New Jersey state employees, records show that some of the defendants named in the suits still retain their old positions, even after the cases have been settled. Take the matter of one NJ Transit worker, who sued alleging that other employees subjected him to a hostile work environment by engaging in sexual harassment and racial discrimination.

The man said that others made sexually explicit comments to him and wrote out offensive messages on doors, in bathrooms and on walls, in contravention of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The state agreed to settle the case, providing $265,000 in compensation. But as of this summer, a number of the employees named in the lawsuit were still working for NJ Transit, some earning quite comfortable salaries.

This pattern appears to hold true in other cases as well, according to an article appearing in The Daily Journal. But a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said that when workplace discrimination and harassment claims are made against state employees, the Law and Public Safety Department looks into the matter and takes action where it deems appropriate. It may, according to the spokesman, fire, suspend, demote or admonish employees where it can confirm the charges leveled in the lawsuits.

Settlements in workplace discrimination cases often require offending employers to provide training for their employees to preclude further instances of discrimination and harassment. Although such training may reform some employees who engaged in prior acts of discrimination, one wonders what message their continued employment sends about the consequences of engaging in discrimination and harassment.

Source: The Daily Journal, “NJ pays millions in sex harassment cases,” Todd B. Bates, Sept. 25, 2012

• New Jersey employees are protected by state and federal anti-discrimination laws. You can learn more by visiting our Kingston employment discrimination page.