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The Employer Handbook BlogAllow Me to Reintroduce Myself
My name is Eric Meyer, a founding partner at Pierson Ferdinand LLP. You may know me as the guy who turns someone else’s workplace disaster into your morning reading. Continue reading
Articles Posted in New Jersey
That Time an AI Note-Taker Turned a Termination Call Into a Gender Bias Lawsuit
The employee left the termination call. Unfortunately for the company, its AI note-taker apparently did not. And it allegedly emailed her what the company representatives said next.
New Jersey’s New Reinstatement Right Could Blindside Employers Who Thought They Knew the Rules
In January, then-Governor Phil Murphy signed a law creating a reinstatement right that never existed before. For employers of any size. It takes effect July 17, and even employers confident they’ve got employee-leave compliance handled could be blindsided.
Rejected for a Positive Cannabis Test in New Jersey? Now Applicants Can Sue.
A federal appeals court ruled in 2024 that New Jersey job applicants had no legal recourse when employers rejected them over a positive recreational cannabis test. The New Jersey Appellate Division just disagreed.
Your Whistleblower’s Old Retaliation Claims Aren’t Necessarily Dead. A NJ Court Just Showed How.
A pharmaceutical company’s compliance officer claimed she spent years flagging what she believed were Anti-Kickback Statute violations. What followed, according to her complaint: bogus HR investigations, a forced apology, a retaliatory performance review, a final warning memo, interference with her medical leave while she was undergoing cancer treatment, and ultimately termination. The employer moved to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds. The New Jersey Appellate Division just reversed.
New Jersey’s Independent Contractor Rules Are Now Official — And the Burden Is All Yours
New Jersey did not invent a tougher independent-contractor test this spring. It finally wrote down how it has been applying the old one. Continue reading
Can a White Employee Sue for Race Discrimination Under the NJLAD Without Any Heightened Burden? The Third Circuit Says Yes.
The Third Circuit just predicted that New Jersey’s “reverse discrimination” rule is incompatible with the NJLAD. Federal courts in New Jersey are no longer applying it.
Hiring Undocumented Workers and Skipping Wages Isn’t a Loophole.
He worked as a building superintendent for three and a half years. His employer conceded he did the work. He was never paid wages after his first two weeks. The New Jersey Supreme Court just explained why that arrangement is going to cost the employer. Continue reading
Mechanical Bull Bartending and the Age Bias Lawsuit That Never Got Off the Ground
The job requirements were… a lot: craft-beer exams, choreography, flair tricks, social media posts, and a “weight proportional to height” standard. Oh, and a mechanical bull. Eighteen longtime bartenders said the whole thing skewed younger. The court said their lawsuit had a more basic problem. Continue reading
You updated your arbitration agreement. You rolled it out electronically. You included an opt-out. That should be enough – right?
Under basic contract law, yes. But thanks to the Ending Forced Arbitration Act, that may not be the end of the story. Continue reading