Historically there has been an inherent imbalance of power between employers and employees in the workplace. Indeed, the employer-employee relationship in law used to be referred to as a “master-servant relationship”. www. law.cornell.edu. An example of this disparate power is found in noncompete agreements forced on employees which typically act to restrict the ability of employees to enter the marketplace to attain higher paying jobs and/or those with better work conditions. According to a recent article in the Washington Post more than 30 million employees or 18% of the United States workfo ..read more

On February 6, 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights (“TWBR”) The enactment the TWBR marked a significant stride forward towards ensuring fair and just treatment for all New Jersey workers because it elevates labor standards and holds employers accountable. The TWBR protects a category of workers known as “temporary laborers.” These temporary laborers include workers in diverse fields such as construction, service and food preparation, installation, repair, and many others. Specific examples of covered occupations under the law range from c ..read more

Each claim brought against an employer has a statute of limitations which is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. Most lawsuits must be filed within a certain amount of time. In general, once the statute of limitations on a case expires the legal claim is no longer valid. However, a legal doctrine called the continuing tort or continuing violation theory if applicable may create an equitable exception to the statute of limitations deadline. Under this doctrine for an individual who is subjected to a continual, cumulative pattern of tortious conduct, the statute of limitations does not begin to r ..read more

A crucial element in proving a claim brought under the New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) is establishing a causal connection between the whistleblowing activity and the alleged resulting an adverse employment action (e.g., termination, suspension, demotion, denial of promotion, transfer, cut in pay, hostile work environment, etc.). In the recent New Jersey Appellate Division case, Ugarte v. Barnabas Health Med. Grp. PC, 2024 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 240 (App. Div. Feb. 16, 2024), the significance of this causal nexus was underscored. In Ugarte, the plaintiff complained ..read more

Earlier this month, Mashel Law defeated an attempt by a Defendant-Employer to dismiss our client’s whistleblowing lawsuit brought under New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) and compel it to be decided through forced private arbitration. Arbitration is where parties contractually agree to resolve legal disputes through a private method of alternative dispute resolution involving what is supposed to be a neutral person who sits as judge and jury and renders a binding decision. This means under arbitration parties waive their right to sue in court to resolve their l ..read more

On March 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) final rule for determining whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will take effect. 29 CFR part 795. FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor standards affecting full and part time workers in both the private and public sectors. Employees receive the protection of the FLSA as opposed to independent contractors who do not because they are considered in business for themselves. Whether a worker is an employee or an independent contrac ..read more

A legal question recently presented to the New Jersey Superior Court on a Motion to Dismiss filed by a New Jersey based Defendant Corporation for answering was whether its former Plaintiff employee who worked remotely for it from her home in North Carolina was protected from an alleged unlawful retaliatory discharge in violation of New Jersey’s whistleblower law entitled the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA). In answering this question in the affirmative by denying Defendant’s motion, the Superior Court accepted Plaintiff’s argument that CEPA applied to the Plaintiff beca ..read more

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) which came into effect earlier this summer requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant and postpartum workers went into effect expanding protections for millions of people. The PWFA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including hourly workers. In addition to covering pregnant employees, it also protects those with “related medical conditions,” including women undergoing fertility treatment, as well as those who have postpartum depression and those who have had an abortion or pregnancy los ..read more

Can a Catholic Church which owns and operates a religious parochial school discharge one of its unmarried teachers because she became pregnant in violation of the Catholic Church’s teachings and her employment contract which both forbade engaging in premarital sex?  In Crisitello v. St. Theresa School, 2023 N.J. LEXIS 847 (2023), the New Jersey Supreme Court answered this question in the affirmative when it reversed the Appellate Division’s reversal of a trial court’s grant of summary judgment to St. Theresa’s under the “religious tenets” exception contained in the New Jersey Law Against ..read more

The New Jersey Supreme Court has yet to decide whether an out-of-state remote worker who worked for a New Jersey-based company is protected by New Jersey’s laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. This is why the New Jersey District Court for the District of New Jersey in Schulman v. Zoetis, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121702 (decided July 14, 2023) was required to predict how the New Jersey Supreme Court rule if faced with this same question. The District Court of New Jersey answered this question in the affirmative concluding that our New Jersey Supreme Court would hold that New Jersey’s L ..read more