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the-dollar-3125419__340-300x200Some of the areas in which businesses make their largest investments of time and expense are trade secrets (including customer lists) customer relations and client development, and employee development.  However, these interests may conflict, especially when highly placed employees leave a firm.  This is an area of potentially bitter dispute in New Jersey business law and employment law.

Businesses have many trade secrets, but the most important of these is often information regarding its customers.  Because of intense competition, and the time, effort and expense which businesses invest in cultivating their clients, customer lists, especially customer lists in service industries, are protected by the common law and New Jerseys Trade Secrets Act.

Businesses also invest significant expense in training and developing their employees, even aside from salary and benefits.  Thus, New Jersey business law and employment law imposed a duty of loyalty on employees, even those who do not have a restrictive covenant.  This duty of loyalty prohibits employees from competing with their employers while they are employed.  An employee may not induce her employer’s employees or customers to leave her employer, nor may she appropriate her employer’s trade secrets.  The employee may plan to leave, and if the employee does not have a restrictive covenant she can even seek employment with competitors or even set up a business entity which will compete with the employer after she leaves. However, the employee cannot go beyond the planning stage while still employed.

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New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act provides some of the strongest consumer protections in the United States.  These protections have long been extended to consumers which tow-truck-309953__340-300x176are business entities.  It is one of the strongest of New Jersey’s business law.  However, the parameters of when a business, as opposed to a person, was acting as a “consumer,”have yielded conflicting decisions.  The Supreme Court of New Jersey has recently issued an important decision affirming business to business consumer fraud, and establishing a test to clarify when a business should be considered to be a “consumer,” and when goods are considered “merchandise” invoking the protection under the Consumer Fraud Act.

The All The Way Towing Case: Background

On January 24, 2019, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of All the Way Towing, LLC v. Bucks County International, Inc.  In that case All the Way Towing (ATW) , a limited liability company in the towing business, ordered an “International” brand all wheel drive truck from Bucks County International, Inc. (BCI), with an autoloader tow body manufactured by another company, Dynamic Towing Equipment and Manufacturing, Inc. (Dynamic).  ATW spent several months negotiating the price and specifications with BCI’s salesperson, and then placed a $10,000 deposit.

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help-164755__340-300x199The New Jersey Appellate Division recently issued a decision which found an arbitration agreement unenforceable against a plaintiff who was alleging age discrimination under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 (“LAD”). Our attorneys represent both employers and employees in employment law, and the determination of whether an arbitration agreement is enforceable is one of the first issues that must be decided in any case where there is a signed arbitration agreement.

The decision was in the case of Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc.  In that case, the employer, Marilyn Flanzman, was an eighty-two year old former weight loss counselor who worked for Jenny Craig, Inc. for twenty-six years.  Who filed suit for alleged age discrimination and harassment.  The trial court below compelled the case to proceed to arbitration.  Marilyn filed an appeal based on the trial court’s order to compel arbitration.  On appeal, the Appellate Division was asked to determine whether the arbitration agreement between the parties was invalidated because the parties failed to identify any arbitration forum or process for conducting the arbitration.

The Appellate Division ultimately ruled that the parties lacked a “meeting of the minds” and therefore held that the arbitration agreement was invalid, reversing the trial court’s decision below.  The Court came to its decision because neither party could identify the rights that plaintiff was given under the arbitration agreement in exchange for plaintiff waiving her right to a jury trial.  In its opinion, the Appellate Division found “selecting an arbitral institution informs the parties, at a minimum, about the institution’s general arbitration rules and procedures.  Without knowing this basic information, parties to an arbitration agreement will be unfamiliar with the rights that replaced judicial adjudication.  That is the parties will not reach a ‘meeting of the minds.’”

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agreement-300x200The Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court recently issued an instructive decision about arbitration agreements in employment law disputes.  The case does not invalidate arbitration agreements – they are protected by both federal and New Jersey law – but it does show that the trend is that arbitration agreements are being construed strictly against the employers which drafted them.

The Skuse Case

In the case of Amy Skuse v. Pfizer, Inc., the Appellate Division invalidated an electronic arbitration agreement used by Pfizer for all its employees.  The “agreement” was not on paper, but an electronic “training module.”  Employees received an email which instructed them to complete the “electronic training.”  Even if they didn’t, complete the training module, the employees would have be deemed to have agreed to the arbitration provision by continuing to work for Pfizer for another 60 days.  The module allowed them to scroll past the text of the provision, and did not provide for the employees to indicate their agreement to arbitration, only their “acknowledgement” of the policy.  The module then thanked the employee for “reviewing” the policy, but not for agreeing to it.

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defense-attorney-840062__340-300x237In December of 2017 New Jersey’s then-Governor Chris Christie signed off on several pieces of legislation to help those with criminal histories turn their lives around and become more productive members of society. For example, Governor Christie signed off on a bill barring employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history during the initial job application process. Around that same time, he also enacted a law to alter the requirements for individuals to be eligible for an expungement of their criminal records. Those changes took effect as of October 1, 2018.

An expungement of criminal records generally has the effect of causing the arrest, conviction and/or any related proceedings to be deemed not to have occurred. In most cases, a person who has had her records expunged may answer “no” to any questions relating to whether an arrest, conviction, or any such proceeding occurred. There are a few exceptions. For instance, in a job application for a position with the court (judicial branch); in an application for another expungement, or to a court in relation to accepting the person into a treatment or other diversion program, the fact of an expungement and the criminal history may still need to be disclosed. However, the records are not made available for any type of background check in other instances (such as for private employment).

The new changes to New Jersey’s expungement laws include several significant alterations in the eligibility requirements for expungements. For instance, an individual used to have to wait 10 years to expunge a felony conviction. That has now been reduced to 6 years. There is also an early pathway for such expungements if the applicant can establish that the expungement is in the public interest, and in consideration of the nature of the offense and the character of the applicant. That early pathway was available previously, and remains in place with a waiting period of only 5 years. Also, the waiting period for expunging juvenile offenses was also reduced from 5 years to 3 years.

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rules-1339917__340-300x231Very often, a person or business will want to confer a benefit on a third party but will not be able to do so itself, for a variety of reasons.  So then, to make sure the benefit will be conferred, it will enter into a contract with a person or business which has the ability to confer the benefit.  The question, then, is what rights does the third-party beneficiary have?

Let’s say Sam wants to build a deck for his friend Joe’s house, but Sam is an incompetent carpenter. So Sam signs a contract with Acme Building Contractors, Inc., in which Acme agrees to build a deck on Joe’s house, and Sam agrees to pay Acme $5000.  Sam pays Acme in full but it never builds the deck, and then Sam dies.  Now Acme has $5000 and Joe doesn’t have a deck.  Does Joe have any remedies to enforce Sam’s contract with Acme?  That all depends on whether Joe can be considered a third-party beneficiary under New Jersey law.  The basic answer is yes, if Sam and Acme intended Joe to be a third-party beneficiary.

New Jersey Law Expressly Allows Third-Party Beneficiaries to Enforce Contracts

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tax-739107__340-300x200New Jersey’s Supreme Court adopted new rules which became effective September 1, 2018. These rules amend New Jersey’s Rules of Court to make the litigation of complex business law matters more efficient. This article discusses some of the major changes the new rules have brought about.

Background

In 2000, the Supreme Court revised the discovery procedures in New Jersey’s Court Rules for civil cases. These amendments were adopted because the courts in various counties had developed different discovery procedures. The Supreme Court’s aim was to standardize these rules so that litigants would get the same level playing field in every county throughout the state. However, in adopting three basic case tracks, the Court may have gone too far in limiting judges’ ability to manage complex business law cases. The Supreme Court therefore explored establishing a separate track for complex commercial cases.

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italian-food-2361054__340-300x200Before you enter into an agreement to purchase a franchise, it is vital to review and understand the documents you are being required to sign. You will be required to execute the following documents:

1) The Franchise Disclosure Document, previously known as the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular, provides information regarding the franchise’s history, the nature of the business and the products or services it provides, as well as the costs and fees imposed the franchisor, the operational requirements, and historical financial information.

It will, of course, state that past success does not guarantee future success, but it should give you details of the business up to the present date. It must include mandatory disclosures pursuant to the Code of Federal Regulations, Volume 16, Part 436, see The Franchise Rule Compliance Guide.

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yes-3029367__340-300x158The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently issued a decision which illustrates some of the weaknesses in both Federal and New Jersey Employment law, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.  Our attorneys represent both employers and employees in employment law, and this issue is of utmost concern to us.

The decision was in the case of Axakowsky v. NFL Productions, LLC, d/b/a NFL Films.  In that case, Nadia Axakowsky sued NFL Productions, LLC, for sexual harassment under Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.  The judge dismissed the case on summary judgment, ruling that Axakowsky was an independent contractor and therefore was not protected by either law.

The judge undertook a detailed analysis under federal case law interpreting Title VII.  Culminating with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. Darden in 1992, the federal courts have developed a test to determine whether a worker classified as a contractor is in reality an employee entitled to protection under Title VII.  The judge went into detail examining all the factors in the relationship, and determined that Axakowsky was in reality a contractor, not an employee, and therefore not entitled to protection under Title VII.  Without going into detail, given that Axakowsky worked only one and a half hours per week as a voice-over artist and continued to audition for and accept other work, the analysis was in all likelihood correct.

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silhouette-3299358__340-300x274As previously discussed here, on May 2, 2018, New Jersey’s Governor, Phil Murphy signed into law New Jersey’s Paid Sick Leave Act (the “Act”).  The Act took effect on October 29, 2018.  The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (“NJDOL”) issued proposed regulations to further address the employees’ rights and employers’ obligations under the Act.

Below is a list of several areas where the proposed regulations provided additional guidance to the Act itself:

1. Exempt Employees under the Act.

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