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Employment Law

What is legal discipline for unauthorized overtime?

04/30/2010
Q. I know I can’t refuse to pay an hourly employee who works overtime even though I never authorized it. What I don’t understand is what kind of discipline should I implement? Can I, for example, deny a cost-of-living increase?

Bill would limit employer rights to employee inventions

04/28/2010
A bill before the New Jersey Assembly would bar employers from profiting from employee inventions—as long as the employee developed the invention on his or her own time and did not use any employer resources to do so.

You must pay promised wages under the Wage Payment Act

04/28/2010

When a manager promises an employee a specific wage for doing certain work, the company is obligated to pay that wage after the employee performs the work. If the employer doesn’t pay, the employee may collect under the New Jersey Wage Payment Act.

N.J. Supreme Court backs e-mail privacy on company PCs

04/28/2010
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that an employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy when she accesses and uses a web-based e-mail account on company computer equipment, but doesn’t save her password on the computer.

Your well-crafted arbitration agreement will stand up in New Jersey courts

04/28/2010

There’s good news for New Jersey employers that use arbitration agreements to keep workplace disagreements out of court. Courts often find arbitration agreements valid, even if the employee who signed it was in a take-it-or-leave-it position. What’s more, courts won’t toss out an agreement just because a small section may be invalid. Instead, they’ll strike the invalid parts and leave the rest intact.

Worker–not just doctor–can prove incapacity

04/28/2010

The FMLA allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for eligible employees who work for covered employers to deal with their own serious health conditions. Typically, employees must visit a doctor to establish the existence of an underlying medical problem that makes the employee unable to perform her job for three consecutive days. But what if the medical provider merely says the employee may be off for one or two days?

Consider shift change to accommodate disability

04/28/2010

Generally, employers aren’t responsible for helping their disabled employees with their commutes. For example, unless an employer provides transportation for other employees, it doesn’t have to do so for disabled ones. But what if an employee needs to change her schedule so she can make the commute to work? Does the employer have to accommodate the request? Perhaps.

Should we pay for employee’s drive from his home to a training seminar?

04/28/2010
Q. What if an employee drives his own car to a seminar that’s two hours away? Should he get paid for his driving time to and from the seminar, even if he leaves from home and drives straight home afterward?

Are arbitration agreements right for your organization?

04/28/2010

There’s a flood of employment law litigation sweeping the nation. Blame the recession. Employment-related cases are clogging court dockets at the state and federal levels. The EEOC is fielding more and more employment discrimination claims. Facing these realities, alternative dispute resolution is becoming increasingly popular as parties look for more efficient, less expensive conflict-resolution mechanisms. Arbitration is the type of alternative dispute resolution that’s attracting the most attention.

Bethlehem’s St. Luke’s hospital won’t hire smokers

04/28/2010

St. Luke’s Hospital and Health System in Bethlehem will screen new hires for tobacco use and not hire anyone who tests positive for nicotine. Current employees will not be tested. Employees who fail the screening may try again in six months.