One of the most vexing problems facing employees suing their employers for harassment is what legal standard the acts must meet in order to prove harassment. In the case of Castleberry v. STI Group, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that harassment need only be…
The New Jersey Civil Rights Act, the state counterpart to the federal law known as “Section 1983,” is a powerful tool for government employees to protect themselves when their public employers violate their civil rights After the Civil War, Congress passed a law known as “Section 1983.” Section 1983 was…
One of the most difficult issues for New Jersey employment attorneys is when federal law preempts New Jersey employment law. One of the most thorny areas is the intersection of the Federal Labor Management Relations Act, which governs the interpretation and application of collective bargaining agreements (union contracts) in the…
An attorney-client relationship involves the reasonable reliance by an individual (the client) on the professional knowledge and/or skills of an attorney who is aware of and accepts responsibility for that reliance. While a written agreement is not required for this relationship to exist, there must be some mutual understanding, consensus,…
Our employment attorneys handle New Jersey civil service appeals and litigation. The Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court recently issued a decision on “dual officeholding” which affects the rights of New Jersey Civil Servants. Gary DeMarzo was hired as a police officer by Wildwood in 1998. In 2007 he…
President Trump recently issued an “Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty.” We have been asked what this will mean for New Jersey employers or employees. For private sector, and New Jersey state and local public sector employers and employees, the answer is probably not much, if anything. Let’s…
Our employment lawyers represent employers and employees in New Jersey labor and employment litigation. Each employment case has two parts. The first is liability – did the employer commit the wrongful act of which it is accused by the employee? If the answer is no, the case is over; if…
Here at the New Jersey Lawyers Blog we usually stick to New Jersey law (the name is probably a giveaway). However, a federal decision this week in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (with jurisdiction over appeals from the federal courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin)…
Our employment attorneys represent New Jersey public sector employees in disputes with their governmental employers. One area in which we frequently see disputes is the failure to give a “Rice Notice” to employees whose employment may be affected by an action by their governmental employers. New Jersey employees, including non-tenured…
The financial burden of a civil service appeal discourages many employees from filing. However, a successful employee may be able to recover the attorneys fees she spent on the appeal. Our attorneys handle civil service appeals for all of New Jersey’s Public Employees, such as police officers, teachers, firefighters, and…