New Jersey employment law

Appellate Division Reinstates Employee’s Whistleblower Claim

April 4, 2022 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

In a recent opinion, New Jersey’s Appellate Division reinstated Margaret Gatham’s whistleblower claim against Care One Management, LLC, its Executive Vice President, Elizabeth Straus, and its Deputy General Counsel, Thomas A. McKinney.

Ms. Gatham worked for Care One from 2005 until she resigned in July 2012. In 2015, Care One’s Chief Strategy Officer, Timothy Hodges, contacted her to discuss her potentially returning to Care One based on her past success turning the facility around, including her success collecting money. In August 2015, Ms. Gatham returned to Care One as its Director of the Shared Business Office.

In approximately September 2015, Ms. Gathman discovered that Care One had failed to return to Medicare, Medicaid and other entities and individuals, overpayments and security deposits for residents who had died, in violation of the Affordable Care Act. In early 2016, Ms. Gatham reported this issue to her immediate supervisor. Ms. Gatham came up with a plan for Care One to return the money. Ms. Gatham indicated she was concerned about the company’s failure to return those funds, which she estimated could have been $13 million. She also periodically updated members of the company’s senior management, including Ms. Strauss, about those plans.

New Jersey Family Leave Act Amended Again

May 15, 2020 | by Elliot M. Baumgart

The New Jersey Family Leave Act (“NJFLA”) has been amended yet again, this time in response to the coronavirus epidemic.

Signed into law by Governor Murphy on April 14, 2020, the amendment creates additional reasons why an otherwise eligible employee may use job protected family leave when there is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease. The amendment is retroactive to March 25, 2020.

In addition to the previous justifications for an employee taking family leave, including so the employee can provide care made necessary by reason of the birth or adoption of a child, or the “serious health condition” of the employee’s family member, the amendment creates a whole new category of circumstances that now qualify as a basis for a job-protected family leave.

New Jersey Law Prohibits Retaliation Against Employee Who Refused to Lie in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

April 22, 2020 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Last week, the New Jersey’s Appellate Decision recognized that an employer cannot retaliate against an employee because he refused to lie to support the company defend against another employee’s sexual harassment lawsuit. While that might seem obvious, the twist is that the employee alleging retaliation did not even know the other employee’s case involved sexual harassment.

Emiliano Rios is an emergency medical technician (“EMT”). He worked for Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center as the Supervisor of the Emergency Medical Services Department (“EMS”).

In April 2014, one of Mr. Rios’s coworkers, Heatherlee Bailey, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the hospital. However, Mr. Rios was completely unaware that Ms. Bailey had been sexually harassed.