• AIDS and HIV status
So, when a law enforcement officer complains to the EEO officer, an investigation is undertaken, and the EEO officer issues a report that the law enforcement officer was not the victim of discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment or retaliation, all the EEO officer is saying is that no evidence could be found that what was done to the law enforcement officer was done“ because of” one of the 19 categories listed here. That is not the equivalent of saying that the law enforcement officer was not the victim of some other type of retaliation. However, since the EEO officer is not charged or tasked with investigating other categories of retaliation, he or she will not undertake to protect the law enforcement officer further.
For example, one of the parts of the Conscientious Employee Protection Act, better known as the Whistleblower Act, requires all employers with 10 or more employees to“ conspicuously display, and annually distribute to all employees, written or electronic notices of its employees’ protections, obligations, rights and procedures” under the Whistleblower Act. Additionally, that notice given to employees must“ include the name of the person or persons the employer has designated to receive written notifications,” pursuant to the Whistleblower Act.
In other words, employers of 10 or more employees are specifically required to identify a specific person to accept and investigate complaints of retaliation from whistleblowing. That person is usually not the EEO officer, but someone else in the organization.
Some employers follow these statutes literally. So, if a law enforcement officer or other employee fails to file his or her whistleblowing complaint with the person so designated to accept and investigate them, no investigation is undertaken. While most unfortunate for the employee, this is the reality of the situation.
Fourth, the policies and procedures of one’ s employer are not the law. In other words, violating policies or procedures are not the equivalent of violating the law of New Jersey. For example, it is in vogue for an employer to promulgate an“ anti-bullying” policy. Yet, the only people currently allowed to sue for bullying under New Jersey law are students against their school district. Adult-on-adult bullying is not recognized as an independent cause of action under New Jersey law. So, even if a law enforcement officer is the victim of a bullying supervisor, he or she may not want to use that wording in a complaint if interested in filing a possible lawsuit.
Needless to say, whether to complain, when to complain and to whom to complain are vital decisions that a law enforcement officer must make when it comes to discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment and / or retaliation. Choices have consequences. Some of those consequences can be negative, and some of those consequences could even be fatal to a career or subsequent lawsuit.
For that reason, information is power. The more information the law enforcement officer has from his or her attorney, union, delegate or representative, as well as from his or her own research, the better off he or she will be in the long run. d
A former municipal police officer, county corrections officer and municipal prosecutor, Stuart J. Alterman has represented law enforcement officers for more than 25 years in all areas of employment issues. He is a NJ State PBA Lifetime Silver Card recipient. Arthur J. Murray, who has extensive practice in the Office of Administrative Law in Law Enforcement Disciplinary Matters, contributed to this report.
The Law Firm of Alterman & Associates, LLC
Stuart J. Alterman, Esquire Jeffrey S. Ziegelheim, Esquire Arthur J. Murray, Esquire
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www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ JULY 2017 23