Division Announces Findings of Probable Cause in Three Cases Involving Alleged Gender and Pregnancy Discrimination

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) announced today that DCR has issued Findings of Probable Cause in three cases involving allegations that the Cinnaminson Township Board of Education violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) and the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA).

The cases center on a policy maintained by the Cinnaminson Township Board of Education that prohibits employees on leave from coaching or otherwise participating in extracurricular activities.  Three women employed by the school district filed separate complaints challenging that policy after they were precluded by the policy from coaching extracurricular activities while on parental leave.

The Findings of Probable Cause issued by DCR found sufficient evidence to conclude that the policy has a disparate impact based on gender and pregnancy, in violation of the LAD. DCR also found sufficient evidence to conclude that the school district’s policy violates the NJFLA, which protects an employee’s right to engage in part-time work while on family leave and to continue part-time employment that began before the employee’s family leave.

“New Jersey’s anti-discrimination laws do not permit employers to follow the all-too-familiar view that a woman must choose between having a career and having a child.  These cases serve as a reminder that employment policies and practices cannot punish an employee for taking time off to bond with a new family member,” said Attorney General Platkin. “We will always stand up to employers who violate our laws and will work to ensure that our residents’ rights are protected.”

“For families across New Jersey, it’s so important that parents and guardians be able to take time away from their jobs to care for or bond with a child.  Fortunately, our civil rights laws provide strong protections against gender-based discrimination and pregnancy-based discrimination, and they require employers to respect the rights of their eligible employees to take family leave,” said Sundeep Iyer, Director of the Division on Civil Rights. “The enforcement actions announced today demonstrate that we are committed to enforcing these critical protections. That includes taking enforcement action against discriminatory family leave policies that disproportionately harm women and pregnant people, even when those policies don’t single out women or pregnant people on their face.”

Because women and pregnant people are more likely to take extended leaves to care for or bond with a new child, the Findings of Probable Cause announced today found that the school district’s policy means that women and pregnant people are predictably more likely to be precluded from coaching extracurricular activities.  During the course of its investigation, DCR found that between 70 and 75 percent of the school district’s staff were women, and that about 80 percent of the leaves taken by employees to care for or bond with a new child were taken by women.  Nonetheless, the school district awarded 72 percent of its extracurricular positions to men.

In addition, national data and data from the school district demonstrate that women and pregnant people are much more likely to take extended leave to care for or bond with a new child than men  meaning that they are more likely to be precluded by the school district’s policy from participating in extracurricular activities over the course of an entire season.

DCR’s investigation also found sufficient evidence to conclude that the school district’s policy violates the NJFLA.  The regulations implementing the NJFLA provide that an employee on family leave “may commence” part-time employment during a leave.  The regulations also expressly provide that an employee “may continue part-time employment which commenced prior to the employee’s family leave.”  Because the school district prohibited employees on family leave from continuing their part-time employment as coaches while they were on parental leave, DCR found that the district’s policy likely violates the NJFLA.

In all three cases filed with DCR, the employees affected by the policy were women who were on family leave following pregnancy and the birth of a child.  In one case, an employee who served as head coach for two years was not allowed to return to coach the same sport because she was on parental leave during the season.  In another case, the policy prevented a woman who had coached the same sport for well over a decade from returning to her coaching duties nine months after she gave birth.  In the third case, an employee was forced to cut short her leave so she could return to a coaching position, even though the school district had permitted her to coach while on several prior maternity leaves.

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To learn more about the LAD, visit DCR’s Know the Law web page. To learn more about NJFLA, visit DCR’s New Jersey Family Leave Act web page, which includes new guidance DCR issued in February 2024 on the New Jersey Family Leave Act.

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The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights enforces the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, and the Fair Chance in Housing Act, and works to prevent, eliminate, and remedy discrimination and bias-based harassment in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation throughout New Jersey.

To find out more information, go to www.njcivilrights.gov.

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