NJ Discrimination Case Pushes ‘Majority’ Employee’s Claims

A White New Jersey police officer’s promotion-denial lawsuit spurred Third Circuit judges Monday to question if the US Constitution prohibits New Jersey’s discrimination standard disadvantaging “majority” litigants.

Borough of Bergenfield Deputy Chief Christopher Massey sued after he lost a promotion to chief to colleague Mustafa Rabboh, a Palestinian American Muslim. The trial court dismissed Massey’s claims, saying that he didn’t satisfy a “background circumstances test"—an elevated standard for non-minority litigants to bring more evidence in racial discrimination cases where a worker lacks direct evidence of discrimination.

Massey’s claims utilize New Jersey’s expansive Law Against Discrimination, but the panel was skeptical ...