There has been a history of employee misclassification in New Jersey and across the United States. Unfortunately, the misclassification of what is actually an employee as an independent contractor means that the person misses out on critical employment benefits. Independent contractors are not just treated differently for tax purposes, but they do...
Category: Employment Law
Can an Employer Require a COVID-19 Vaccine Before an Employee Comes Back to Work?
While the memories of lockdowns and quarantines may be falling into our not-so-distant memories, the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Employers may still be hesitant to bring remote workers back into the office, but the fact remains that more and more employers are opening their doors back up to workers. Returning to work in...
What the WARN Act Means for Employees
There are a number of federal laws in place that grant key protections to promote the best interests of workers across the U.S. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is one such law. In the most basic sense, the WARN Act grants protections to employees in the case of a...
Should You Make a Claim for Unpaid Overtime Pay?
You may have always thought that getting a paycheck was straightforward. You put in your hours at work and receive a paycheck accordingly. Wage payment, however, can get complicated. For instance, there are overtime laws to consider. If you work overtime hours, your employer must pay you at the overtime premium rate....
ADA Protections for Workers in Treatment for Opioid Use
Sometimes, employers do not fully understand or are not fully aware of their obligations to their employees. Federal laws that are in place provide many protections for workers and their employers are obligated to honor such protections regardless of whether they know or understand them. To further complicate things, the protections provided...
Supreme Court to Hear FLSA Highly Paid Supervisor Case
The distinction between exempt and non-exempt employees is an important one and has significant implications for employers and employees alike. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), exempt employees are not entitled to overtime pay. Non-exempt employees, on the other hand, must be paid overtime and enjoy the protections offered by the...
Common Reasons Employees Sue Employers
Employees, sometimes it may feel like your employer has all of the power. It is important to know, however, that the law protects you from things like unfair treatment in the workplace and discrimination. You have rights and knowing those rights is power, in and of itself. When employers fail to comply...
Court Finds Single Use of Racial Slur Can Create Hostile Work Environment
Courts are not tolerating any hint of a hostile work environment anymore. The trend moving across jurisdictions is to take a close look at even single incidences of harassment or discriminatory behavior to see if that, in and of itself, would create a hostile work environment for a person. Employers should be...
New Jersey State Protection Against Hairstyle Discrimination
Illegal discrimination based on traditionally ethnic hairstyles has been the subject of some heated debate in recent years. There are some hairstyles, such as dreadlocks and cornrows, that, while not exclusively worn by people of color, are still traditionally worn predominantly by members of the black community. Furthermore, these hairstyles are commonly...
Protections Under the FMLA and NJFLA
Federal and state law grant employees certain protected rights. One of the major federal laws doing such is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). New Jersey also has a state-level counterpart to the FMLA known as the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA). Employees should be aware of the protections...