Attorney Thomas A. McKinney featured in northjersery.com, Former chef sues ‘knucklehead’ restaurant, saying he was fired for reporting safety lapses

Posted on July 12, 2021

Former Executive Chef Daniel Schreiber filed a complaint against Portobello Restaurant on Tuesday, saying his complaints about health conditions at the Ramapo Valley Road restaurant were ignored and eventually led to his firing after a month's employment in March.

Can Employers Require the Covid-19 Vaccine?

Posted on July 7, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic and its persistence have forced many of us to confront some complexities you can only face in such an unprecedented time. The world shut down and then vaccines came and things started to reopen. Those who had been working remotely slowly started coming back into the office. Employers...

Attorney Thomas A. McKinney featured in The NY Times, An Unmarried Catholic Schoolteacher Got Pregnant, She Was Fired.

Posted on June 28, 2021

When a Catholic school art teacher was asked to take on extra responsibilities, she requested a raise, explaining she was about to have a baby.

Weeks later, she was fired from her New Jersey elementary school. The principal, a Roman Catholic nun, told her she was being terminated "because...

Independent Contractor or Employee? New Rule Coming Soon

Posted on February 8, 2021

The Department of Labor (DOL or Department) issued a final rule on January 6, 2021, clarifying who is an independent contractor versus an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act). Why does it matter, anyway? It matters because employers are required to pay their employees at least the federal minimum wage...

When Marijuana is Legal Can I Fired For Getting High?

Posted on January 28, 2021

As New Jersey moves toward the legalization of marijuana and decriminalizing possession charges or marijuana, many employees may be wondering if they can get fired for being high at work and the truth is, the answer is complicated. In November 2020, New Jersey lawmakers passed a...

Employee Case Reinstated in Retaliation Lawsuit

Posted on April 16, 2020

Emiliano Rios, a paramedic for the Meadowlands Hospital Center in Secaucus, NJ, has alleged he was fired from his job for refusing to help his employer retaliate against a fellow employee who had filed a sexual harassment suit against the company. He claims he was...

New Jersey Passes Laws to Protect Workers from Illegal Misclassification as Contractors

Posted on January 30, 2020

On January 20, 2020, New Jersey passed several new laws aimed at protecting workers from being denied the benefits of employment through misclassification as independent contractors. The laws were passed to rectify the problem of employers treating workers who work 40 hours a week for them as independent contractors. Right now, employers...

New Jersey Clarifies Used of Paid Sick Leave

Posted on January 29, 2020

Through new regulations, New Jersey clarified the New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law (NJESLL). To comply with the law, an employer’s paid time off (PTO) policy must allow an employee to use all PTO for reasons covered by the ESLL, permit employees to use the time off as required by the NJESLL, pay...

New Jersey Becomes First State to Require Severance Pay for Mass Layoffs

Posted on January 27, 2020

In a victory for New Jersey employees, on January 21, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that guarantees severance pay to New Jersey employees who lose their jobs in mass layoffs. New Jersey is...

Jury Awards $6M in Racial Bias Suit

Posted on December 11, 2019

The lawsuit was filed by Rebecca McCarthy, an African American woman fired from her $190,000-per-year position as vice president of clinical leadership at the company's location in Bound Brook. A Bergen County jury has awarded a $6 million verdict in a racial discrimination suit by...