Lawsuit Filed Against Garden State Nissan

by | May 3, 2023 | Cases

Race Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Garden State Nissan in Butler, New Jersey And Several of Its Corporate Officers.

We filed a Race Discrimination and Retaliation case in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Hudson County, against Garden State Nissan, D/B/A Luxury Motor Cars and Route 23 Nissan and several of its corporate officers, including, Richard Oshivelli, Ray Reddock, and Wendy D’Antonio, in connection with the termination of an African-American employee.

The lawsuit alleges as follows, among other allegations:

  • Plaintiff, an African-American female, had extensive experience as an office manager/controller in the area of automobile dealerships, and previously earned in excess of $100,000.
  • Plaintiff was hired by Garden State as an office manager/controller at a comparatively low salary.
  • After several months, plaintiff was promoted to controller, but her salary remained the same, and substantially lower than a substantially similar White female employee, whose duties plaintiff absorbed after that employee resigned.
  • During the course of her employment, plaintiff sent an email to Garden State Nissan about the lack of posting of state-required anti-discrimination posters.
  • Plaintiff also sent an email and/or complaint to Defendant’s human resource department about employee’s complaint about paycheck.
  • Plaintiff also sent to Defendant’s human resources an email concerning another employee’s complaint of sexual harassment by a co-worker.
  • On the very same day plaintiff forwarded the complaint of sexual harassment, Garden State, Oshielli, Reddock, and Wendy D’Antonio called plaintiff into a conference room and fired her telling her that was “was not doing what she was told to do.”

Plaintiff’s lawsuit alleges Race Discrimination in salary and in terms and conditions of her employment, in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), Retaliation in violation of the LAD, Retaliation in violation of New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), and Aiding and Abetting discrimination and retaliation in violation of the LAD and CEPA.

Generally, unless there is an employment agreement between the employer and employee, an employer is free to hire or fire anyone at will, with or without reason.  However, under the LAD, an employer cannot discriminate against any employee in the terms and conditions of that employee’s employment including hiring, promotion, discipline, salary, etc. Further, under the LAD, an employer cannot retaliate against any employee who made a reasonable and good faith complaint relating to any rights protected under the LAD.

Additionally, under CEPA, an employer is prohibited from retaliating against an employee because the employee discloses to a supervisor a  practice of the employer that the employee reasonably believes is in violation of a law, rule or regulation, or objects to any policy or practice of the employer which the employee reasonably believes is in violation of a law, or a rule or regulation, or is fraudulent, or is incompatible with a clear mandate of public policy.

If you have any information relevant to this case, or if you are victim of workplace discrimination or harassment, kindly contact us at 201-222-0123 or [email protected]