New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

Employees Can Proceed with Claim Employer Sued Them for Alleging Discrimination

February 15, 2024 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recognizes that an employer filing a lawsuit against an employee because he asserted a discrimination claim against it can be an act of unlawful retaliation in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”).

The retaliation claim was asserted by Jean-Claude Franchitti and Vartan Piroumian, two former employees of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation and Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corporation. Mr. Franchitti was Cognizant’s Chief Architect and Assistant Vice President, and Mr. Piroumian was its Principal Architect and Enterprise Architect.

Mr. Franchitti and Mr. Piroumian each previously asserted discrimination and retaliation claims against Cognizant. Mr. Franchitti filed a Charge of Discrimination with the United States Equal Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) asserting age discrimination, national origin discrimination and retaliation, as well as a subsequent lawsuit in California asserting the same claims, a claim under the False Claims Act alleging the company was engaging in visa fraud, and a lawsuit in New York alleging retaliation. Mr. Piroumian has filed two Charges of Discrimination against Cognizant with the EEOC alleging unlawful discrimination and retaliation.

Court Dismisses Failure to Accommodate Claim But Allows Related Retaliation Claim to Proceed

February 1, 2024 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Recently, the District of New Jersey dismissed an employee’s disability discrimination and failure to accommodate disability claims, but did not dismiss her related retaliation claim.

Amber Ray worked as a Project Manager/Estimator for Elecnor Hawkeye, LLC. Before she began working for Elecnor, Ms. Ray had been diagnosed with Lupus. However, sometime after Elecnor fired her, she learned she had been misdiagnosis and actually had Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a complex musculoskeletal condition, and several other auto-immune conditions.

On Friday, July 30, 2021, Ms. Ray sent a text message to her supervisor, Hal Meeler, informing him that she would be working from home that day. In response, Mr. Meeler told Ms. Ray she was required to work in the office, and he would discuss the issue with her on Monday.

Gerber Must Bring Witness to New Jersey to Testify in Discrimination Lawsuit

January 8, 2024 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A recent decision from the New Jersey Appellate Division affirms a trial court’s order requiring Gerber Products Company to bring a witness from Switzerland to New Jersey, at Gerber’s expense, to testify at a deposition in a discrimination lawsuit. A deposition is a formal interview under oath used to obtain testimony from witnesses in lawsuits.

Denise Willson is a former Vice President of Medical Sales North America for Nestlé Infant Nutrition. Ms. Willson sued Gerber Products Company, Nestlé Healthcare Nutrition, Inc., Nestlé Holdings, Inc., and Gerber’s President and CEO, William Partyka, alleging they discriminated against her because of her age and gender. More specifically, she claims they fostered a “boys club” culture, paid her less than her younger male peers, denied her a promotion to the position of general manager, and ultimately fired her in retaliation for her complaints about the discrimination in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”).

As part of her lawsuit, Ms. Willson alleges she spoke to Mr. Partyka’s supervisor, Alexandre Costa, about the retaliatory termination, gender discrimination and Gerber’s failure to promote her. When Ms. Willson’s lawyers sought to take Mr. Costa’s deposition, the defendants objected. They argued that Mr. Costa lives in Switzerland, claims his meeting with Ms. Wilsson was about sales rather than her allegations of discrimination and retaliation, denies he was involved in the decision to terminate her employment or has any other information pertinent to her case, and that requiring him to come to New Jersey for his deposition supposedly would “create a tremendous burden on [his] business.” The defendants also argued that neither Mr. Costa nor his employer, Nestlé Enterprises S.A., is a party to the lawsuit.

Court Analyzes Prospective Tenant’s Sexual Harassment Claim

December 12, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

In a recent ruling, New Jersey’s Appellate Division recognized that the same basic legal principles that apply to sexual harassment claims in employment under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) also apply to sexual harassment claims involving housing discrimination under the LAD. The LAD is a law that prohibits discrimination in the context of both employment and housing.

In November 2019, Sira Traore attempted to lease an apartment for her family and financial assistance from Fairview Homes Preservation, L.P. (“Fairview). She met with Ricardo Mendoza, who was an employee of Related Management Company, L.P. (“Related”), a company that manages and leases apartments on behalf of Fairview.

Ms. Traore claims that when she met with Mr. Mendoza he touched her and pressured her to go to his hotel room to have sex with him in exchange for him providing her a lease for an apartment lease and the housing assistance she was seeking. Ms. Traore did not agree to have sex with Mr. Mendoza, and claims that as a result she did not receive a lease or housing assistance. Ms. Traore recorded her conversation with Mr. Mendoza using her cell phone.

Are Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable Against New Jersey Psychotherapists?

November 14, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A non-compete agreement is a contract that prevents an employee for working for a competitor for a period of time after his or her employment relationship ends.

As a general rule, New Jersey Courts enforce non-compete agreements if the employer has a legitimate interest to protect such as confidential information or client relationships, but only to the extent the restrictions are reasonable under the circumstances, including in terms of their duration and geographic scope.

New Jersey Courts have recognized that there are two categories of employees for whom non-compete agreement cannot be enforced: Lawyers and psychologists. But there also is some support in the law that non-compete agreements may not be enforceable against other types of psychotherapists, such as Licensed Social Workers (“LSWs”) and Licensed Clinical Social Workers (“LSCWs”).

Jonathan Nirenberg Named One of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers

November 1, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Included on BERGEN Magazine’s 2023 Top Lawyers List

Jonathan I. Nirenberg is honored to have been selected by BERGEN magazine to be included on its 2023 list of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers, in the category Labor & Employment law. The entire list is included in the November 2023 edition of BERGEN magazine. You can view the list of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers in Labor & Employment lawyers here.

Jonathan, a graduate of Cornell Law School, has been representing employees in employment law cases for 25 years. To read more about him, please see his biography on our website.

Court Reinstates Employee’s Retaliation Lawsuit, Finding Employer Could Have Identified Her as Anonymous Whistleblower

October 23, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A new decision from New Jersey’s Appellate Division recognizes that an employer can be liable for retaliating against an employee who filed an anonymous whistleblower complaint if the evidence supports the inference that it could have realized she was the one who filed the complaint.

For 14 years, Carol Smith worked for Konica Minolta Business Solutions (“KMBS”), primarily as a sales representative. In 2018, Ms. Smith reported to her supervisors that over a million dollars of equipment had been shipped to a warehouse, and KMBS had recorded it as installed and paid employees a commission for selling that equipment, but the equipment actually remained in the warehouse and KMBS was improperly using it as collateral for bank loans.

Ms. Smith’s supervisors failed to address her complaint, and instead began harassing her. Accordingly, she eventually reported the fraudulent activity anonymously, through KMBS’ employee whistleblower hotline.

New Jersey Court Analyzes Time Off as Reasonable Accommodation for Disability

October 11, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”), time off can be a reasonable accommodation for a disability as long as the time off sought is reasonable. A recent decision from the District of New Jersey provides a good example of how Courts analyze this issue at the early stage of a case, as well as a dispute about the employee’s ownership interest in the business.

Michaela Wark worked for J5 Consulting, LLC as a senior consultant in New Jersey. In June 2020, Michael Johnson, who is the Chief Executive Officer and an owner of J5, told Ms. Wark that he was promoting her to a Partner of J5 and making her a 5% owner of the company.

Mr. Johnson provided Ms. Wark a letter confirming her promotion and 5% ownership, which states that she would lose her ownership rights if she was “fired for gross negligence or misconduct.” The letter also say Ms. Wark “must be employed by the company six months prior to sale for the rights of ownership to apply.”

Sexual Assault of Student Can be Sexual Harassment in Violation of New Jersey Law Against Discrimination

September 13, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Yesterday, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a sexual assault against a student can constitute sexual harassment in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”).

In addition to prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, the LAD also prohibits it in places of public accommodation, including public schools and school busses. Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that occurs because of the victim’s sex.

The case involved an individual identified only by her initials, C.V., who was a prekindergarten student in the Waterford Township School District. C.V. was the victim of repeated sexual assaults by her bus aide, Alfred Dean. Mr. Dean ultimately plead guilty to first-degree aggravated sexual assault, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Catholic School Did Not Violate Law Against Discrimination by Firing Unmarried Employee When She Got Pregnant

August 16, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that religious institutions can fire an employee for failing to follow the tenets of their religions, such as a Catholic school firing an employee because she had premarital sex.

Victoria Crisitello worked for the St. Theresa School as an art teacher and toddler room caregiver. St. Theresa’s requires its employees, including Ms. Crisitello, to sign employment agreements that require them to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. For example, they had to agree to follow the Policies on Professional and Ministerial Conduct adopted by the Archdiocese of Newark.

Among other things, those Policies forbid engaging in “[a]dultery, flagrant promiscuity or illicit co-habitation.” Similarly, the Roman Catholic Church prohibits sex outside of marriage, which the Church considers to be a sin.