New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

Court Analyzes Prospective Tenant’s Sexual Harassment Claim

December 12, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

In a recent ruling, New Jersey’s Appellate Division recognized that the same basic legal principles that apply to sexual harassment claims in employment under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) also apply to sexual harassment claims involving housing discrimination under the LAD. The LAD is a law that prohibits discrimination in the context of both employment and housing.

In November 2019, Sira Traore attempted to lease an apartment for her family and financial assistance from Fairview Homes Preservation, L.P. (“Fairview). She met with Ricardo Mendoza, who was an employee of Related Management Company, L.P. (“Related”), a company that manages and leases apartments on behalf of Fairview.

Ms. Traore claims that when she met with Mr. Mendoza he touched her and pressured her to go to his hotel room to have sex with him in exchange for him providing her a lease for an apartment lease and the housing assistance she was seeking. Ms. Traore did not agree to have sex with Mr. Mendoza, and claims that as a result she did not receive a lease or housing assistance. Ms. Traore recorded her conversation with Mr. Mendoza using her cell phone.

Are Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable Against New Jersey Psychotherapists?

November 14, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A non-compete agreement is a contract that prevents an employee for working for a competitor for a period of time after his or her employment relationship ends.

As a general rule, New Jersey Courts enforce non-compete agreements if the employer has a legitimate interest to protect such as confidential information or client relationships, but only to the extent the restrictions are reasonable under the circumstances, including in terms of their duration and geographic scope.

New Jersey Courts have recognized that there are two categories of employees for whom non-compete agreement cannot be enforced: Lawyers and psychologists. But there also is some support in the law that non-compete agreements may not be enforceable against other types of psychotherapists, such as Licensed Social Workers (“LSWs”) and Licensed Clinical Social Workers (“LSCWs”).

Jonathan Nirenberg Named One of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers

November 1, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Included on BERGEN Magazine’s 2023 Top Lawyers List

Jonathan I. Nirenberg is honored to have been selected by BERGEN magazine to be included on its 2023 list of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers, in the category Labor & Employment law. The entire list is included in the November 2023 edition of BERGEN magazine. You can view the list of Bergen County’s Top Lawyers in Labor & Employment lawyers here.

Jonathan, a graduate of Cornell Law School, has been representing employees in employment law cases for 25 years. To read more about him, please see his biography on our website.

Court Reinstates Employee’s Retaliation Lawsuit, Finding Employer Could Have Identified Her as Anonymous Whistleblower

October 23, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A new decision from New Jersey’s Appellate Division recognizes that an employer can be liable for retaliating against an employee who filed an anonymous whistleblower complaint if the evidence supports the inference that it could have realized she was the one who filed the complaint.

For 14 years, Carol Smith worked for Konica Minolta Business Solutions (“KMBS”), primarily as a sales representative. In 2018, Ms. Smith reported to her supervisors that over a million dollars of equipment had been shipped to a warehouse, and KMBS had recorded it as installed and paid employees a commission for selling that equipment, but the equipment actually remained in the warehouse and KMBS was improperly using it as collateral for bank loans.

Ms. Smith’s supervisors failed to address her complaint, and instead began harassing her. Accordingly, she eventually reported the fraudulent activity anonymously, through KMBS’ employee whistleblower hotline.

New Jersey Court Analyzes Time Off as Reasonable Accommodation for Disability

October 11, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”), time off can be a reasonable accommodation for a disability as long as the time off sought is reasonable. A recent decision from the District of New Jersey provides a good example of how Courts analyze this issue at the early stage of a case, as well as a dispute about the employee’s ownership interest in the business.

Michaela Wark worked for J5 Consulting, LLC as a senior consultant in New Jersey. In June 2020, Michael Johnson, who is the Chief Executive Officer and an owner of J5, told Ms. Wark that he was promoting her to a Partner of J5 and making her a 5% owner of the company.

Mr. Johnson provided Ms. Wark a letter confirming her promotion and 5% ownership, which states that she would lose her ownership rights if she was “fired for gross negligence or misconduct.” The letter also say Ms. Wark “must be employed by the company six months prior to sale for the rights of ownership to apply.”

Sexual Assault of Student Can be Sexual Harassment in Violation of New Jersey Law Against Discrimination

September 13, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Yesterday, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a sexual assault against a student can constitute sexual harassment in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”).

In addition to prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, the LAD also prohibits it in places of public accommodation, including public schools and school busses. Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination that occurs because of the victim’s sex.

The case involved an individual identified only by her initials, C.V., who was a prekindergarten student in the Waterford Township School District. C.V. was the victim of repeated sexual assaults by her bus aide, Alfred Dean. Mr. Dean ultimately plead guilty to first-degree aggravated sexual assault, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Catholic School Did Not Violate Law Against Discrimination by Firing Unmarried Employee When She Got Pregnant

August 16, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that religious institutions can fire an employee for failing to follow the tenets of their religions, such as a Catholic school firing an employee because she had premarital sex.

Victoria Crisitello worked for the St. Theresa School as an art teacher and toddler room caregiver. St. Theresa’s requires its employees, including Ms. Crisitello, to sign employment agreements that require them to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. For example, they had to agree to follow the Policies on Professional and Ministerial Conduct adopted by the Archdiocese of Newark.

Among other things, those Policies forbid engaging in “[a]dultery, flagrant promiscuity or illicit co-habitation.” Similarly, the Roman Catholic Church prohibits sex outside of marriage, which the Church considers to be a sin.

Resigning to Avoid Participating in Illegal Activity Can Be Protected Under CEPA

August 1, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

A recent decision from the New Jersey Appellate Division decision recognizes that, under the right circumstances an employee can be protected by the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (“CEPA”) when she resigns because she is not willing to participate in her employer’s illegal conduct. CEPA is New Jersey’s whistleblower law, which many courts have described to be the broadest such law in the nation.

Hope Moser worked for the Streamwood Company as the assistant property manager at the Madison Court apartments. Her immediate supervisor, Scott Leonard, was Streamwood’s regional manager and the son of Streamwood’s owner.

In January 2021, Mr. Leonard told Ms. Moser that she should check “no” on all housing screening forms in response to the question whether the form was being completed as a Section 8 housing application. Ms. Moster objected because she believed doing so would violate the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”), which prohibits housing discrimination against prospective Section 8 tenants.

New Federal Protections for Pregnant Employees

July 22, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnancy and Childbirth

On June 27, 2023, a new federal employment law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, went into effect. The Act prohibits employers from:

Denying an employee a reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions unless the employer can show the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business;

Supreme Court Makes it Easier to Receive Accommodations for Religious Beliefs

July 11, 2023 | by Jonathan I. Nirenberg

Last month, the United States Supreme Court made it easier for employees to prove a claim that their employer failed to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Gerald Groff worked for the United States Postal Service (“USPS”). Mr. Groff is an Evangelical Christian whose religious belief is that Sunday should be a day for worship and rest, rather than for work or transporting worldly goods.

Initially, Mr. Groff’s job as a Rural Carrier Associate generally did not require him to work on Sundays. However, in 2013, after USPS entered into an agreement with Amazon, it began requiring employees to make Sunday deliveries. Accordingly, Mr. Groff requested a transfer to another location that did not make deliveries on Sundays.