The Employment Law Counselor

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) prohibits employers from unlawfully discriminating against employees based on, among other things, their race, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, disability, national origin, sex and age. The LAD is also quite broad in its application in comparison to federal protections against discrimination (e.g., the LAD applies to all employers while Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is only applicable to employers with 15 or more employees). On October 5, 2021, Governor Murphy signed legislation providing increased protections for employees 70 years old or older.Continue Reading

Last month, the EEOC filed a first of its kind lawsuit in federal court in Georgia based on an employer’s denial of an accommodation request to work from home. In the suit, the employee, a former health and safety manager at a facility services company, alleged that at the start of the pandemic, she requested to work from home as an accommodation for her chronic obstructive lung disease and hypertension. Shortly after her request, the company directed its employees to work from home four days per week. In June 2020, the company required that all staff to return to in-person work at the facility five days per week.Continue Reading

On September 18, 2021, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated guidelines for Quarantine and Isolation (Guidance) with respect to the COVID-19 virus. For purposes of the Guidance, “quarantine” is the appropriate response if a person may have been exposed to the virus, while “isolation” is the response for a person infected with the virus, even with no symptoms. With the expected issuance of workplace guidelines (and governmental mandates usually based on CDC Guidance) keeping informed of the changes and updates will be critical for employers as employees return to office workspace.Continue Reading

Ever since the 2020 presidential election last November, we have forecasted what a President Biden-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and General Counsel would mean for our employer clients. For example, the NLRB stated in an August opinion that it was willing to “explore new make-whole remedies.” In near lock step with the NLRB, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo recently revealed her playbook in the form of General Counsel Memorandum 21-06, which spells trouble for employers who are charged with unfair labor practices by an employee or a union.Continue Reading

The United States Supreme Court recently reshaped the relationship between universities and the athletes who play college sports in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston et al. In the Alston case, the Court upheld a trial court injunction against NCAA rules that limit the education-related benefits schools may offer student athletes. Notably, the Court did not consider the lower court’s rulings that upheld NCAA limits on noneducational benefits and compensation that student athletes may receive. Regardless, in a unanimous opinion, the Court noted deep skepticism about the “amateur label” of college sports as argued by the NCAA and ruled that the NCAA’s rules restricting education-related benefits violate federal antitrust laws. In a concurring opinion, Justice Kavanaugh specifically noted that the argument “that colleges may decline to pay student athletes because the defining feature of college sports … is that the student athletes are not paid … is circular and unpersuasive.”Continue Reading

Minimum wage just broke another record today. It will break another tomorrow.

Did you know that the federal minimum wage has not been increased in over 12 years? Every day without an increase sets another record for the longest period of time without an increase in the federal minimum wage since the first minimum wage was enacted in 1938.Continue Reading

New York City has taken a sweeping approach to help contain the spread of the Delta variant through its “Key to NYC” program, becoming the first U.S. city to do so. With enforcement of "Key to NYC" to begin on September 13, 2021, employers in New York City should begin to make the necessary adjustments to ensure they are in full compliance with the mandate. While the program was announced earlier this month, a new order, Executive Order No. 226, was recently issued by Mayor Bill de Blasio on August 20^th, which superseded some provisions of Executive Order No. 225, issued on August 16^th.Continue Reading

This month, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held as a matter of first impression that medical marijuana users may maintain a private action under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (MMA). The case is Scranton Quincy Clinic Company, LLC, et al. v. Pamela Palmiter, Case No. 498 MDA 2020 (Pa. Super. Ct. Aug. 5, 2021).

Plaintiff Palmiter was terminated from her job for failing a drug test, despite informing the laboratory that she was prescribed medical marijuana and providing a copy of her medical marijuana certification. She subsequently sued her former employer, asserting ... Continue Reading