Employees frequently enter their attorneys’ office armed with documents in support of discrimination and retaliation claims. However, a recent Appellate Division opinion held that an employee who provided confidential company documents to her attorney did not engage in protected activity under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and that such activity did not support a retaliation claim. The opinion, Quinlan v. Curtiss-Wright Corp. , Docket No. A-5728-06T1 (App. Div. Aug. 11, 2009), may complicate employees’ attempts to prove their discrimination claims because they will have to rely upon employers to be forthcoming with confidential documents in discovery. The Quinlan holding is significant for two other reasons: First, plaintiffs who are successful at trial will be entitled to a tax gross up to offset negative tax consequences of a lump-sum award. In addition, the Quinlan case provides additional support for defendants who argue that their behavior is not sufficiently “egregious” to support a claim for punitive damages.
In Quinlan, the Appellate Division reviewed and partially reversed a verdict in a case brought pursuant to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The jury had awarded the plaintiff over $10.6 million, of which over $4.5 million was punitive damages. In relevant part, the court held that, because the jury had received an erroneous charge on plaintiff’s retaliation claim, defendant was entitled to a new trial. The panel also determined that the lower court should not have submitted the issue of plaintiff’s entitlement to a punitive damages award to the jury. Finally, the court agreed that, where a lump-sum award causes a plaintiff to incur negative tax consequences, a defendant should be required to provide her with additional compensation. Although the panel devoted only a few paragraphs of its 30-page opinion to the tax issue, Quinlan is the first time a reported appellate opinion in New Jersey has addressed this issue.
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