Business Law

Published on: October 18, 2023

New Jersey Wage and Hour Decision Demonstrates Power of Recordkeeping – And the Perils of the Lack of It

New Jersey employment law requires that employees must be paid at regular intervals, at least twice per month. The proposition that employees should be paid for the time that they work does not seem to be illogical. However, litigation over non-payment of wages is all too us-supreme-court-300x200 common. The New Jersey Appellate Division recently addressed one of the laws behind this issue in the case of Veronica Villalobos v. Beast Coast Moving Limited Liability Company.

Background

Veronica Vilalobos and Joe Esquijarosa brought suit against their employer, Beast Coast Moving Limited Liability Company, for violation of the New Jersey Wage Payment Law, in the Law Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey, sitting in Bergen County.

Published on: September 28, 2023

Can an Employer Rescind a Job Offer Under New Jersey Employment Law?

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

It’s a nightmare scenario for an employee. She has a good job, but has received the opportunity of a lifetime. She quits her job, moves to a new city, and gets ready to start her new position. Then, just before she starts, the prospective employer calls and says, “Oops, we’ve changed our minds. Sorry….” Now she’s in a new city and maybe a new state, with a new lease or mortgage, and no job. Does the law provide her contract-1464917__340-300x200 with any remedy? Fortunately, New Jersey employment law does provide relief under certain conditions.

Breach of Contract

The employee is in the best position if she received an employment contract. If she has a written contract, she has the full range of remedies for breach of contract. This does not mean that the prospective employer does not have defenses – there may be a perfectly good reason for rescinding the offer. For example, the offer could be for an attorney who was disbarred or a doctor who lost her license to practice medicine. However, there is a good chance that the contract will provide the employee with a remedy in court.

Published on: September 27, 2023

New Jersey Law Against Discrimination Applies to Mergers

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

A recent New Jersey employment law decision in the case of Rosemary Beneduci vs. Graham Curtin, P.A. addressed when failing to offer an employee of one business entity a job with a second when the two merge constitutes an illegal employment practice under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. While the case involved two law firms, it would be equally applicable to any employers. NJ_State_House-300x200

Background

As the opinion explained them, the facts are relatively straightforward. Rosemary Beneduci was a long-time employee of Graham Curtin, P.A., a major New Jersey law firm. She had been on disability leave for knee replacement surgery. At the same time, Graham Curtin was merging with a second firm, McElroy Deutsch. When the merger was completed, McElroy would be the surviving firm. All of the attorneys and employees at Graham Curtain who did not leave for another firm were offered employment with McElroy except for Beneduci. All of them became employees of McElroy except for Beneduci and one part-time employee who chose to retire. The testimony indicated that Graham Curtin’s employees were hired based on the recommendation of its former managing partner; he recommended all the employees be hired by McElroy except for Beneduci. When Beneduci emailed the managing partner, her direct supervisor, that she would be returning to work, he met with her, terminated her and offered her a severance agreement. She rejected the agreement and sued Graham Curtain, its managing partner, and McElroy for violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Published on: August 17, 2023

Supreme Court Decision Indicates That Application of the Joint Employer Doctrine in New Jersey Employment Law Cases is Question for Jury

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey employment law recognizes the concept of “joint employers.” Under this legal doctrine, an employee can have two employers even though he only gets paid by one. The doctrine provides that when more than one entity acts as a person’s employer, both are jointly

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responsible for complying with employee protection laws such as the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (known as CEPA or the New Jersey Whistleblower Law).

The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey explained in the case of Pukowsky v. Caruso that the following factors are to be considered when determining whether the joint employer doctrine should cause a person or business to be a joint employer of an employee for employment law purposes.

Published on: June 8, 2023

New Jersey Supreme Court Decision on Classification of Workers is a Cautionary Tale for Employers

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

Independent Contractors versus Employees Under New Jersey Employment Law

Under New Jersey employment law, the classification of a worker as an employee or independent contractor has significant ramifications for both the employer and employee, including the ability of the employer to shift the cost of insurance, payroll taxes and benefits to the employee, and relieving it from having to pay time and a half for overtime. The New Jersey Supreme Court explained in the seminal case of building-home-construction-contractor-blueprint-architecture-300x200 Hargrove vs. Speepy’s LLC, that there are different, fact sensitive tests for this determination depending on the context, such as for wage issues, workers compensation and unemployment. More recently, the Supreme Court addressed this issue in the context of whether an employer must make contributions for disability and unemployment in the case of East Bay Drywall, LLC vs. New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Background: East Bay’s Business Model

Published on: May 24, 2023

New Jersey Business Divorce Examined by Appellate Division

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey business law presents no thornier area than business divorces – when a venture goes south and the owners – the partners, corporate shareholders or limited liability members – acrimoniously split up. The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey recently addressed such a painful business divorce in the case of Segura columns-round-300x201 v. Shah.

Background: Christina Segura vs. Imran F. Shah

Christina Segura dated Imran Shah. After about six months they decided it would be a good idea to go into business together, so they formed a partnership. The partnership agreement allowed them to engage in virtually any profit-making business.

Published on: May 17, 2023

New Jersey Real Estate Law Decision Examines Duty to Disclose Defects in “As Is” Residential Real Estate Sales

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey real estate law is enormously important – the purchase and sale of a home are often the largest transactions in many people’s lives. It is fraught with risks for both buyers and sellers.

For example, let’s say you’re buying a house and you receive a disclosure form from the sellers saying that there are no problems with the house, so you buy it and, lo and behold, there are significant issues. Do you have any recourse? The Appellate Division addressed that question in the recent case of Rogers vs. Conti.

Background: The Rogers vs. Conti Case

Published on: March 27, 2023

New Jersey Business Law Decision Examines Requirements for an Enforceable Contracts

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

Contract drafting and negotiation is one of the most important aspects of New Jersey business law. Contracts govern the relationship between business parties. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that a contract embodies the terms which the parties bargained for, and protects their interests. And it must meet all the legal requirements for contracts to be enforceable. signature-3113182__340-300x200

The Appellate Division recently explored those requirements, and the consequences which follow when they are not met, in the case of Tyler at First Street, LLC vs. Yengo.

Background

Published on: March 24, 2023

Federal Appeals Court Holds that Withholding Paid Time Off Will Not Defeat Professional Exemption to Minimum Wage and Overtime Requirements

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, like New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Law, requires that employees as a general rule must be paid a specified minimum wage, and overtime when they work more than 40 hours per week. However, certain classes of employees are exempt from these requirements. Thus, nonexempt employees need to be paid minimum wage and overtime, while exempt employees do not. In us-supreme-court-300x200 order to be considered an exempt employee under the exemption for “professional” employees, an employee must be paid on a “salary basis,” make at least $684 per week, and her work must require advanced knowledge in a field which is normally acquired “by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction; or… requires invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which hears appeals from the Federal trial courts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the United States Virgin Islands, recently examined the professional employee exemption in the case of Stephanie Higgins v. Bayada Home Health Care Inc.

Background

Published on: March 12, 2023

Liquidated Damages Provide Measure of Certainty Under New Jersey Contract Law

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey Business Law and Liquidated Damages

Business parties draft contracts to give them a measure of certainty in their future relationship. However, it is not a secret that contracts are frequently breached, so parties often want a degree of certainty about what able-account-300x214 will happen in the event of a future breach. This gives rise to greater likelihood that the contract will be performed, and hopefully limits litigation costs if there is a breach. However, New Jersey business law, and indeed contract law generally, prohibits penalties in contracts. Thus, damages for breach of contract must reflect actual damages to put the innocent party in as good a place as it would have been had the breach not happened, rather than a greater amount to penalize a breaching party.

But when drafting a contract for a business relationship which will be performed in the future, it is often impossible to know what the amount of damages will be. Too many things are unknown, such as whether the relationship will be profitable and if so how profitable; and how much time will remain on the contract when a breach occurred, and thus how long the damages will accrue. For this reason New Jersey contract law allows for liquidated damages. Liquidated damages are an estimate of actual damages included in a contract to give more certainty about what will happen in the event of a breach. But liquidated damages must be a good faith estimate of actual damages in order to be valid and enforced.