On February 9, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that an arbitrator, rather than a judge, must decide whether an arbitration agreement allows the parties to have a class action arbitration. As a result, it reversed the District of New Jersey’s decision which had…
On February 8, 2011, New Jersey’s Appellate Division ruled that an employee is entitled have a jury decide whether to award punitive damages against her former employer. Prior to the appeal, a jury had awarded the plaintiff, Judith Rusak, $80,108.80 in wages she lost because she experienced sexual harassment and…
Last Wednesday, a mascot who worked for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees minor league team filed a federal lawsuit claiming the team violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and state law because it failed to pay him for his overtime hours. Specifically, Brian Bonnor’s lawsuit alleges the team improperly designated him…
Many companies require employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of getting hired or keeping their jobs. Arbitration agreements are often included in employment contracts, but they also can be in separate agreements. Arbitration is when a case is decided by one or more professional arbitrators, rather than by…
The Sexual Harassment Last week, the New Jersey Appellate Division clarified what a company must prove before its anti-harassment policy can protect it from a sexual harassment claim. The case, Allen v. Adecco, involves Jessica Allen, an employee who worked for the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey…
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to allow employees to observe their sincerely held religious practices and observances, unless the company cannot accommodate the employee without causing an undue hardship to its business. Last month, New Jersey’s Appellate Division reversed a trial court’s decision…
Starting on January 1, 2011, New York employees in the Hotel and Restaurant Industries have new rights and legal protections under New York’s Hospitality Wage Order. While there are numerous changes to the law, the following describes some of the more noteworthy changes. Changes to Minimum Wage The new law…
On December 13, 2010, New York State Governor David A. Paterson signed the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“WTPA”) into law. The WTPA is intended to help protect employees working in New York against violations of their wage and hour law rights. The WTPA requires employers to provide information to employees…
The statute of limitations under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) is two years. Ordinarily, that means you must file your lawsuit within two years after (1) a “discrete act” of discrimination such as being fired, demoted, or suspended, or (2) the last act of a pattern of harassment.…
As an employment lawyer, I am often asked whether an employee can take copies of documents from their job to help prove discrimination or retaliation. There is no simple answer to that question. Rather, as the New Jersey Supreme Court recognized last week in Quinlan v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the answer…