"New Jersey Employment Lawyers" Tag Archives

Published on: July 18, 2025

Last Chance Agreements In New Jersey Employment Law

New Jersey civil service law and education law provide that employee disciplinary charges can be settled. This applies to New Jersey governmental jurisdictions which are not covered by civil service or education law as well. One of the tools which are sometimes used for these settlements are “last chance agreements.” courthouse-1223280__340-300x200

Last Chance Agreements

A last chance agreement is essentially a settlement agreement which suspends disciplinary proceedings for a specified time frame, essentially a probationary period, which gives the employee a “last chance” to improve her performance. Thus, if the employee violates the last chance agreement during the specified period the employer may impose the suspended discipline or other discipline as appropriate. The agreement is to be construed under the normal rules for contract interpretation. The New Jersey Supreme Court and Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey have addressed last chance agreements in separate decisions in the case of Horace Watson vs City of East Orange. The Appellate Division also addressed the matter in the case of A.D.P. v. ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, in which the court examined last chance agreements and their application in private sector employment.

Published on: July 11, 2025

New Jersey Employment Law Decision Protects Employees from Sexual Harassment, Even Where Harassment is by Employee of Another, Related Employer

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

A recent New Jersey employment law decision found that even where harassment is not by a co-employee, her employer may still be liable if the victim worked closely with the harasser in her workplace.

Background

Kristine Bodner was a certified alcohol and drug counselor employed by the Center for Family Services (the “Center”), a private nonprofit social services provider. The Center is a “provider agency” for the New Jersey Department of Child Protection and Permanency (the “Department”). She was assigned to work at the Burlington office of the Department, a department of New Jersey state 4-225x300 government. She worked closely with the Department’s supervisors. Clients were sent by Department to the Center. The Center would assign clients to Bodner. She assessed clients to see if they had substance abuse issues and if so to recommend the appropriate level of care, and report them to the case workers. She would conference cases with Department case workers.

Published on: November 3, 2024

All Employers Required to Provide New Jersey Disabled Employees With Reasonable Accommodations So They Can Do Their Job

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey’s Requirement for Employers to Provide Reasonable Accommodations for Disabled Employees

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination because of an employee’s disability. New Jersey civil service law also prohibits discrimination because of an employee’s disability. These laws require employers to provide 7-300x225 reasonable accommodations so that disabled employees can perform their duties.

The regulations promulgated by the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights implementing the Law Against Discrimination’s reasonable accommodation requirement require employers to engage in an “interactive process” with the employee to determine what reasonable accommodations the employer can provide for the employee.

Published on: September 13, 2024

New Jersey Employment Law Decision Addresses When Commissions Are Part of “Wages” for New Jersey Wage Payment Law

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey wages are governed by a set of laws: the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, the Wage Collection Law, the Wage Theft Act, and the Wage Payment Law. These New Jersey employment laws govern the amount and timing of wages owed to New Jersey employees. A New Jersey appeals court issued a precedential decision on when commissions must be paid under the Wage courthouse-NY-300x199 Payment Law, which governs when wages must be paid, in the case of Musker v. Suuchi, Inc.

Background

Rosalyn Musker was employed as a senior platform delivery manager by Suuchi, Inc. Part of her compensation was commissions on the gross revenue from sales of software, software related services, and related subscriptions for apparel manufacturers. These sales were governed by a company commission plan. The commission plan contemplated continuing revenue streams. Only revenue from these sources, and no others, was governed by the commission plan.

Published on: August 28, 2024

New Jersey Employment Law Protecting Temporary Workers Survives Challenge in Federal Appeals Court

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which hears appeals from federal district courts in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the United States Virgin Islands, recently rejected a challenge to the New Jersey Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights in the case of New Jersey Staffing Alliance vs. Cari Fais, Acting Director of the New Jersey State Division of Consumer supreme-court-building-1209701__340-300x200 Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

Background: The New Jersey Temporary Workers Bill of Rights

The New Jersey Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights was passed by the New Jersey Legislature in 2023. It was designed to protect temporary workers employed in New Jersey. It enacted several measures to meet this goal. These include disclosure requirements and certification procedures. It also imposes joint and several liability on both staffing firms and the businesses which obtain temporary workers through those staffing firms.

Published on: August 6, 2024

New Jersey Disability Discrimination and Retaliation Prohibitions Examined by Appeals Court

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

New Jersey employment law prohibits both disability discrimination and retaliation against an employee who objects to disability discrimination. A New Jersey appeals court examined both situations in the case of Algozzini vs DGMB Casino LLC, d/b/a Resorts Casino Hotel. imagesCAWQ89PS

The Explosion

Bart Algozzini was director of slot operations at Resorts Casino Hotel for five years when he suffered second and third degree burns over seventy percent of his body during a boat fuel explosion on July 17, 2019. He was hospitalized for a month. He spent two weeks in a medically induced coma, was intubated, resuscitated after a cardiac arrest, and went through multiple skin graft surgeries. Thereafter he went to an inpatient rehabilitation, followed by outpatient physical therapy. He was discharged from outpatient physical therapy on January 30, 2020 but still needed to walk with a cane and use a shower chair.

Published on: April 25, 2024

United States Supreme Court Explains What an Employee Must Show to Prove That She Has Been Harmed by Gender Discrimination

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

Federal and New Jersey employment law both prohibit discrimination because of an employee’s gender. The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in the case of Muldrow v. City of Saint Louis establishes what employees must prove to have a viable lawsuit for gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Because New Jersey courts often look to Federal case law about Title VII to guide them in interpreting New Jersey employment law, it is likely that this standard will be adopted as the law in New Jersey. scoutus-room

Background

Jatonya Clayborn Muldrow was a long serving, decorated officer with the St. Louis Police Department. Justice Elena Kagan described the factual background of the case.

Published on: April 20, 2024

New Jersey Tenure Certificate Revocation or Suspensions Not Barred by Earlier Tenure Charge Arbitration, Appeals Court Says

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

Background

Employment as a teacher and in many other New Jersey public school positions requires that the employee hold a certificate to work in their positions. However, under certain 1-300x225 circumstances, these certificates can be suspended or revoked, rendering the employee ineligible to work in their chosen profession.

The New Jersey Commissioner of Education can suspend the certificates of employee’s who leave before their term of employment ended without their employer’s consent.

Published on: February 18, 2024

New Jersey Supreme Court Gives Tenure Hearing Arbitrators Expansive Powers to Fashion Appropriate Discipline Short of Termination

by Maurice W. McLaughlin

Arbitrators make the final decision in hearings on tenure charges. Appeals are limited. However, the scope of their powers to fashion appropriate discipline was open to question. As I wrote last year, the Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court ruled in the case of school-bus-1-300x200 Sanjuan v. School District of West New York that arbitrators were limited in those powers, and could not impose demotion as a remedy for disciplinary violations. The case was appealed, and the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a decision overturning the Appellate Division’s decision.

Background

Amada Sanjuan worked for the West New York Board of Education as an assistant principal. On February 12, 2020, she fell down a flight of stairs, was injured, and was out of work as a result. Sanjuan claimed that she fell while picking up a piece of paper on the stairs. However, video showed that she removed a piece of paper from her purse after she fell, and placed it at the top of the stairs.

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.