New Jersey Lawyers Blog
New Jersey whistleblower protection laws protect employees who object to or try to prevent illegal conduct by their employers, be they private sector employers or state or local government employers. However, while New Jersey employment law gives strong protection to employees, a recent published appellate decision in the case of McVey v. Atlanticare Medical Systems Incorporated makes clear that neither the New Jersey nor Federal constitutions provide free speech protections to employees of private
sector employers, particularly when that speech violates a company policy or is racist.
Background
Heather McVey was an employee of Atlanticare Medical Systems Incorporated, a private employer. She was hired as a nurse in 2005. She was promoted several times, eventually becoming Corporate Director of Customer Service. She was an at will employee. She had a Facebook page under a fictitious name, “Jayne Heather,” but used her actual photo for her profile, and listed her employment as “Corporate Director at Atlanticare Regional Medical Center.”
received an evaluation on May 1, 2020 with an average score of 3.33, which was in line with her scores over the previous years. It was signed by her supervisor, the director of special services, and recommended her for non-renewal, despite leaving the section listing the areas in which she could improver her work blank. She met with her supervisor and union representative, and then on May 3, 2020, emailed the superintendent requesting a statement of reasons for the non-renewal. The Board voted on May 5, 2020 to accept the superintendent’s recommendations for renewal, which did not include Vakulchik.
Jersey State Prison.
Eligible veterans include only those who received a discharge not characterized as dishonorable and who served at least 90 days in World War I and World War II, or who served at least 14 days in the operations area in the following conflicts: the Korean War; the Vietnam War; the Lebanon Crisis of 1958; the Lebanon peacekeeping mission in the 1980s; the Grenada peacekeeping mission in 1983; the Panama peacekeeping mission; Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm; Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch; Operation Restore Hope in Somalia; Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Guard in Bosnia; Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti (if the veteran received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for their Haitian service); Operation Enduring Freedom; and Operation Iraqi Freedom. “Veterans” also include service members receiving injuries in those operations regardless of the length of their service in them.
possible, merit and fitness for hiring and promotions be determined by examination. The New Jersey 
currently in the amount of $12,060,000.00. However, since a surviving spouse pays no Federal Estate Tax on inheritances from the deceased spouse, the surviving spouse is permitted to claim the deceased spouse’s exemption for use upon the death of the surviving spouse. When creating an estate plan and upon the death of the first spouse, a New Jersey estate attorney must consider whether the surviving spouse would benefit from claiming the deceased spouse’s exemption. In order to claim that exemption, a Federal Form 706 Estate Tax must be prepared and filed.
ew Jersey employment law decision in the case of