New Jersey Workplace Sexual Assault Lawyer

At Greenberg Gross LLP, our New Jersey workplace sexual assault lawyers represent employees who have experienced sexual assault connected to their employment and need to understand their civil and workplace rights. Our attorneys investigate the conduct, the circumstances that made it possible, what the employer knew, and how they responded afterward.

A workplace sexual assault raises distinct legal issues involving the perpetrator's conduct, the employment relationship, and potentially the employer's response. The person who committed the assault may face individual liability, while an employer's responsibility depends on separate facts involving the perpetrator's role, prior warning signs, workplace practices, and response to the misconduct.

If you experienced sexual assault connected to your workplace, call (973) 833-1933 for a free, confidential consultation.

What Is Workplace Sexual Assault?

Workplace sexual assault involves nonconsensual sexual contact or other sexual conduct that constitutes an offense under New Jersey law and has a connection to employment. The conduct does not have to occur inside an office.

Employment-related misconduct can occur during business travel, conferences, company events, client meetings, or other work-connected activities. The perpetrator may be a supervisor, coworker, executive, client, customer, vendor, or another person encountered in the course of employment.

Why Choose Greenberg Gross for a New Jersey Workplace Sexual Assault Case?

Workplace sexual assault cases require attorneys to pursue evidence across employment records, electronic systems, witnesses, and overlapping legal proceedings while handling highly sensitive facts with care. Greenberg Gross is a trial firm built for high-stakes cases.

Our attorneys prepare every case as though it will go to trial, preserving evidence, testing the accounts of witnesses and decision-makers, and developing the record necessary to pursue appropriate relief.

At Greenberg Gross, our attorneys have earned recognition from Super Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell's AV Preeminent rating, the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and the Daily Journal, including Top 100, Top Plaintiff, and Top Labor & Employment recognition.

Is Sexual Assault the Same as Workplace Sexual Harassment?

No, although the two often overlap.

Sexual assault involves nonconsensual sexual conduct that can violate criminal law.

Sexual harassment is an employment-law concept involving unwelcome sexual or sex-based conduct that meets the applicable legal standard. Sexual harassment does not have to involve physical contact. Conversely, a sexual assault connected to employment can also constitute severe sexual harassment.

Our New Jersey workplace harassment lawyers help employees dealing with other forms of sex-based workplace misconduct that doesn’t rise to the level of assault. Reach out to our team to learn more about your rights under both types of workplace situations.

What Laws Protect Employees After Workplace Sexual Assault?

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) prohibits sex discrimination, including unlawful sexual harassment, in employment. Federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides overlapping protections for employees of covered employers.

New Jersey law also provides civil remedies for injuries resulting from certain sexual offenses. The claims available against the perpetrator, an employer, or another potentially responsible party depend on the circumstances.

The New Jersey Security and Financial Empowerment Act (SAFE Act) provides eligible employees with up to 20 days of unpaid, job-protected leave during a 12-month period for qualifying purposes related to domestic or sexual violence.

Because these protections address different harms and responsibilities, a workplace sexual assault should not be treated as one legal cause of action with one set of requirements.

When Can an Employer Be Responsible for Workplace Sexual Assault?

An employer is not automatically liable simply because an assault occurred at work or involved employees. Employer responsibility depends on factors such as who committed the misconduct, the person's workplace authority, what the employer knew or should have known, and how it responded.

Our attorneys investigate whether:

• A supervisor used workplace authority to facilitate misconduct
• Earlier complaints or warning signs involved the accused person
• Managers knew about previous inappropriate behavior
• Meaningful reporting and anti-harassment procedures existed
• The employer took reasonable steps after learning about the conduct

A supervisor's authority can be particularly important. Control over schedules, assignments, evaluations, promotions, travel, or continued employment may provide someone with access or leverage relevant to understanding what occurred.

New Jersey law also makes an employer's response to known harassment important. The precise basis for employer liability, however, remains dependent on the facts.

What if the Employer Knew About Earlier Misconduct?

Prior complaints help establish what an employer knew and when. We investigate whether other employees previously reported unwanted touching, sexual comments, inappropriate messages, boundary violations, or other misconduct involving the same person. Earlier incidents do not have to be identical to the later assault to be relevant.

For that reason, our investigation extends beyond the survivor's personnel or HR file when earlier complaints or internal records are relevant. Earlier complaints and internal communications can reveal information that the employee had no ability to access while working for the company.

After an Assault Is Reported, Who Bears the Workplace Consequences?

An employer may need to separate employees while investigating reported sexual misconduct. How it accomplishes that separation matters.

Suppose an employee reports an assault and management responds by transferring the reporting employee, removing an important account, cutting hours, or changing their schedule while leaving the accused person's working conditions unchanged.

Since temporary separation measures can be appropriate, we examine whether the employer's response protected the employee or instead made them suffer professionally for reporting misconduct. Negative consequences can include:

• Reduced compensation
• Undesirable assignments
• Lost advancement opportunities
• Continued interaction with the accused person
• Unnecessary disclosure of sensitive information
• Increased scrutiny
• Discipline

Can Your Employer Retaliate After You Report Sexual Assault?

New Jersey and federal anti-discrimination laws prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for protected activity involving unlawful discrimination or harassment.

Retaliation can include termination, demotion, discipline, reduced hours, lost assignments, or other actionable adverse treatment. The SAFE Act also prohibits retaliation for exercising protected leave rights.

An employer can still make legitimate employment decisions after receiving a report. The legal question is whether the employer had a lawful reason or whether the protected activity influenced their actions.

What Evidence is Important After Workplace Sexual Assault?

Relevant evidence often exists in several places:

• Digital records: Texts, emails, workplace messages, photographs, calendar invitations, and transportation records
• Employer records: Security footage, access records, schedules, travel and expense records, HR complaints, personnel files, and investigation materials
• Witness evidence: Coworkers who observed interactions, heard statements, saw events surrounding the incident, or knew about earlier complaints

Some evidence may disappear quickly. Security video can be overwritten, workplace accounts can become inaccessible, and companies may routinely delete certain electronic records.

Our attorneys identify relevant evidence and send appropriate preservation demands. If litigation follows, we use the discovery process to seek records, communications, and testimony controlled by the employer or other parties.

The goal is not simply to collect everything. It is to determine what evidence exists, who controls it, and whether it could disappear. Employees should preserve materials they can lawfully possess without improperly accessing restricted systems or removing confidential or privileged information.

Can Race and Sex Discrimination Overlap?

Yes. Sexual misconduct or an employer's response to it can involve more than one protected characteristic. For example, conduct may include racialized sexual stereotypes or comments or employees of different races may receive different responses when reporting comparable misconduct.

We evaluate all relevant protected characteristics rather than artificially separating them. Our New Jersey racial discrimination lawyers can explain more about race-based employment claims and whether you have a viable claim during a free case review.

Do You Have to Report Workplace Sexual Assault to Police Before Bringing a Civil Claim?

No. Filing a police report and a civil or employment claim are separate processes. A survivor does not need to wait for a criminal conviction before discussing or pursuing civil employment rights.

Law enforcement and prosecutors determine how a criminal case proceeds. A civil attorney evaluates claims for compensation or other relief under different laws and legal standards.

The processes can overlap because a criminal investigation may produce evidence relevant to civil litigation. But the outcome of one does not determine the outcome of the other. Likewise, an employer's internal conclusion that it could not substantiate a complaint does not determine whether a viable legal claim exists.

What Workplace Leave May Be Available After Sexual Violence?

The New Jersey SAFE Act provides eligible employees with up to 20 days of unpaid, job-protected leave during a 12-month period. Qualifying employees can use this leave to:

• Obtain medical attention
• Receive victim services or counseling
• Participate in safety planning
• Seek legal assistance
• Participate in legal proceedings related to domestic or sexual violence

New Jersey earned sick leave also covers qualifying needs related to sexual violence. Depending on the circumstances, Temporary Disability Insurance or other protections may apply. These programs have different eligibility and notice requirements, so eligibility under one does not determine every workplace right.

How Can Our New Jersey Workplace Sexual Assault Lawyers Help?

Our attorneys examine both the underlying misconduct and its connection to the workplace. We identify potentially responsible parties, preserve digital and employer-controlled evidence, investigate prior complaints, review the employer's response, evaluate retaliation, and determine which state and federal laws apply.

Our lawyers also handle administrative proceedings and communications, pursue an appropriate negotiated resolution, and file litigation when necessary. Through discovery, we seek internal records and testimony that may not otherwise be available to the survivor.

We prepare every case as though it will go to trial, which allows us to negotiate from a position of strength and be ready if litigation becomes necessary.

How Long Do You Have to Bring a Workplace Sexual Assault Claim?

There is no single deadline for every workplace sexual assault case.

For employment discrimination or harassment under NJLAD, a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights generally must be filed within 180 days of the alleged violation. An NJLAD lawsuit filed in the New Jersey Superior Court is generally subject to a two-year limitations period.

Qualifying federal Title VII claims generally require an EEOC charge. In New Jersey, that charge generally must be filed within 300 days of the alleged harm.

New Jersey uses a different limitations framework for certain civil actions arising from sexual assault or another crime of a sexual nature. For an adult survivor, such an action may generally be brought within seven years from the reasonable discovery of the injury and its causal relationship to the act.

Other claims can have different rules. Survivors should not assume that the longest potentially applicable deadline preserves every claim arising from the same events.

What Compensation or Other Relief May Be Available?

Available remedies depend on the claims established and the parties legally responsible. Relief includes lost wages and benefits, compensation for qualifying emotional and other harm, equitable relief, punitive damages when legally available, and attorneys' fees and costs where authorized.

Civil claims arising directly from an assault involve different damages and remedies from employment discrimination or retaliation claims. Your potential recovery should therefore be evaluated according to the specific causes of action involved.

Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Sexual Assault in New Jersey

Talk to a New Jersey Workplace Sexual Assault Lawyer at Greenberg Gross Today

A workplace sexual assault case can involve more than determining what one person did. Workplace authority, earlier warning signs, employer-controlled evidence, and the consequences imposed after a report can all affect who may bear legal responsibility.

The New Jersey workplace sexual assault lawyers at Greenberg Gross LLP investigate these circumstances, preserve evidence, identify applicable claims and responsible parties, and pursue appropriate relief through negotiation or litigation.

Call Greenberg Gross LLP at (973) 833-1933 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation. Our team is available 24/7.