A recent appellate opinion in the case of In the Matter of Ambroise demonstrates that New Jersey civil service employees will receive a fair hearing in appeals with the New Jersey’s Civil Service Commission and appeals courts. Background Ambroise was terminated as a senior correctional police officer (SCPO) by…
The New Jersey Wage and Hour Law and Wage Payment Law Like the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Law requires that employers pay non-exempt employees minimum wage for all hours that they work, and overtime (time and a half) when employees work more than forty…
New Jersey employment law in the public sector contains few more contentious areas than the confidentiality of the disciplinary and personnel records of law enforcement officers. A trio of published New Jersey State and Federal court opinions have shed light on this contentious and evolving area of the law. …
New Jersey employees have significant protections during mass layoffs under New Jersey employment law. In 1988 the United States Congress passed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN” Act). The Act went into effect in 1989. The purpose of the Act was to try to assist employees with…
New Jersey is one of the most employee-friendly states in the nation; and its becoming more and more employee-friendly every year. On February 6, 2023, Governor Murphy signed the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights Act into law. This law clarifies and expands employee protections for non-exempt (hourly) employees who work…
What is tenure? Under New Jersey employment law, tenure is an added layer of job protection for certain public school employees. What protections does tenure provide for eligible New Jersey education employees? New Jersey employment law provides that no education employee with tenure can be dismissed or have their…
What is a Preliminary Notice of Disciplinary Action? A Preliminary Notice of Disciplinary Action, also known as a PNDA or a Form 31-A, is a New Jersey Civil Service form which notifies an employee that her employer seeks to impose discipline, including an immediate suspension in some cases. What…
Progressive discipline is a concept used in New Jersey civil service discipline law and teacher tenure charges. It can serve to increase or decrease the severity of a penalty based on the employee’s prior disciplinary record. Recently, an appellate opinion examined the concept of progressive discipline in the context of…
New Jersey employment law affords civil service employees with many due process protections when their employer seeks to impose discipline. The Appellate Division’s recent decision in a civil service discipline appeal in the case of In the Matter of Figueroa, Camden County, Department of Parks examines one of the fundamental…
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination New Jersey employment law has long been at the forefront of prohibiting discrimination. Indeed, the Legislature adopted New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination in 1945, long before the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 first banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, and even…