New Jersey must pay a $10 million punitive damages award for denying a worker with multiple sclerosis workplace accommodations, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Despite the robust New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, punitive damages in public employment cases are exceedingly rare because workers must meet a heightened test for employer malfeasance. The state hoped to use that high bar to jettison a jury award for a juvenile corrections officer the state forced to retire early instead of accommodating her as her illness limited her ability to perform her duties.
“Upper management behaved reprehensibly in blithely dismissing plaintiff’s request for ...
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