I. Where We Are
A. What Are Restrictive Covenants in the Employment Setting in New Jersey?
Generally speaking, restrictive covenants in an employment setting take one of three forms: a covenant not to compete, a non-solicitation covenant, and/or a non-disclosure covenant.
Employers doing business in New Jersey have been subject to both the federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”) for more than ten years. Under the prior laws, if an employer were to close a facility employing more than 50 fulltime employees, it was required to provide those employees with at least 60 days’ advanced notice of the closure or face a penalty that required the employer to pay severance compensation to each of the terminated employees. Amendments to the New Jersey legislation signed into law by Governor Murphy in January 2020 not only require employers to provide more notice to employees, but will also impose new economic burdens upon the employers.
These amendments to New Jersey’s WARN Act require employers who plan to close one or more establishment(s) within the state that will result in the layoff or termination of 50 or more employees (fulltime and/or part-time employees) from that establishment(s), are required to provide the affected employees with at least 90 days advanced notice of the layoff or termination of employment. Additionally, employers will be obligated to pay severance compensation to each of the affected employees in an amount equal to one week of severance compensation for each year of service. The severance compensation must be paid on or before the last day of employment. If an employer fails to pay the appropriate severance compensation, the employer will fact a penalty obligating it to pay an additional four weeks of compensation to each employee not correctly paid.
Amendments to the Act also define severance compensation as compensation due for back pay associated with the termination in an apparent attempt to characterize the severance compensation as wages for the purposes of bankruptcy.
New Jersey has one of the most progressive laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, as well as in places of public accommodation. That law’s protections against race discrimination have been further expanded under recent legislation signed into law by Governor Murphy. The new act is commonly known as the “Crown Act.”
Under the new law, it is now illegal to discriminate against anyone because of their race, inclusive of traits historically associated with race “including but not limited to, hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles.” The new law further defines protective hairstyles to include “such hairstyles as braids, locks and twists.” In short, you cannot refuse to continue to employ any current employees or refuse to employ prospective employees if they are sporting hairstyles that are characteristically associated with a particular race of people.
Lindabury’s Employment Law Group partner, Kathleen Connelly joins Jeanie Coomber for her podcast series One Woman Today discussing “Workplace Sensitivity Training, Harassment and Bullying”. In their conversation, Kathleen shares her wisdom on what constitutes “bad behavior” and how education of employees and thorough and fair investigations is paramount for employers.
You may listen to the archived podcast here.
New Jersey has adopted one of the strongest wage theft laws in the country and jumps to the forefront in protecting employee wages. Effective November 1, 2019, New Jersey employers will face enhanced civil and criminal penalties, including possible jail time, for failing to pay employees in accordance with the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, the New Jersey Wage Payment Law and the New Jersey Wage Collection Law.
Enhanced Penalties for Violators: Under the new Wage Theft Act, an employer who fails to pay minimum wage or the agreed-upon wages to an employee, any overtime compensation due the employee, or pay the employee in a manner required by law (e.g., paying employees in cash without deducting appropriate taxes) is liable to the aggrieved employee for the full amount of the wages owed plus liquidated damages up to 200%, costs of the litigation and attorneys’ fees. An employer seeking to avoid liquidated damages must 1) be a first-time offender; 2) demonstrate that the failure to pay appropriate wages was an inadvertent, good faith mistake, and 3) acknowledge that it violated New Jersey wage laws and pay the amount owed within 30 days. An agreement between the employer and employee to work for less wages than required by law is not a defense to a violation.
In addition, violators face enhanced fines of $500 and 20% of the owed wages for a first offense, increased to $1,000 and 20% for each subsequent offense, and administrative penalties ranging from $250 for a first violation to $500 for every subsequent violation.
It has been nearly two years since the viral #MeToo tweet that sparked a national debate about sexual harassment in the workplace. While #MeToo has not changed the legal standard by which sexual harassment is defined in New Jersey, it has had a dramatic impact on the way sexual harassment is perceived and tolerated in our culture. Perhaps the movement’s biggest impact can be seen in the passage of both federal and state legislation aimed at providing greater protections to victims of workplace sexual harassment. This article takes a closer look at these legislative initiatives as well as potential changes on the horizon.
Federal Legislation
2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act
Kathleen M. Connelly, a member of Lindabury’s Employment Law practice group, was recently interviewed by ROI-NJ regarding the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy on July 2nd. New Jersey joins a growing list of states enforcing workplace protections for medical marijuana users. Kathleen said the difficulty from the employer standpoint is the tension between understanding that people see benefits from cannabis in medical treatment but also needing to ensure these individuals aren’t under the influence while performing job duties.
You can read the full article here.
In February of 2019 Governor Murphy signed into law sweeping legislation that significantly expands employee rights to family leave entitlements, provides greater family leave insurance benefits to employees during a leave, expands the definition of “family members,” and finally, provides greater job security to individuals taking family leave. It is critical for employers to understand the multiple changes resulting from this this legislation to ensure that employee’s rights are not being violated.
Amendments to the New Jersey Family Leave Act: While most employers are aware that those with 50 or more employees are covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that accords employees 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave for personal medical leave, or to care for a newborn/newly adopted child or family member with a serious medical condition, many are unaware that New Jersey also has a similar Family Leave Act (NJFLA) that likewise applied to employers of 50 or more and accords 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave to qualifying employees. However, unlike the FMLA, NJFLA leave is only available for bonding with a newborn or newly adopted child, or to care for a family member with serious medical condition; the employee has no personal medical leave rights available under the NJFLA.
Effective June 30, 2019, the employee headcount for coverage under the NJFLA dropped from 50 to 30 employees, taking it out of alignment with the FMLA and making many more small employers subject to the requirements of the NJFLA to provide guaranteed protected bonding and family medical leave to qualifying employees. The amendments further expanded the NJFLA to include family leave in connection with the placement of a child into foster care with the employee or the birth of a child conceived using a gestational carrier agreement; in addition, leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child which rights were available to employees prior to the amendments.
When hiring, many employers do not give proper consideration to whether newly hired employees should be classified as “exempt” employees who by law are not entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any workweek, or “nonexempt” employees who are entitled to overtime pay. A failure to properly apply the legal criteria for employee classification can be a costly oversight for employers.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) mandates that employees be paid on an hourly basis of at least the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25. States and municipalities are free to enact higher minimum wage rates. New Jersey recently passed legislation that will progressively increase the current $8.85 per hour minimum wage to $15.00.
The FLSA further mandates that employees be paid at an overtime rate of not less than 1 ½ times the employee’s regular rate for each hour of work time in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek unless the employee qualifies for one of the exemptions from these overtime requirements set forth in the statute. So how does an employer determine the proper classification of an employee as either nonexempt or exempt? Unfortunately, there are no bright-line rules an employer can rely upon in making these determinations, and the employee’s job responsibilities and the employer’s control over the employee largely dictate the proper classification under the FLSA. However, the statue specifies the criteria that must be met if the employer intends to avail itself to one of the three principal exemptions set forth in the statute: i) the Executive exemption; ii) the Administrative exemption; and the Learned Professional exemption. These requirements will be discussed below, as well as certain other exemption classifications that are available under the FLSA Thankfully, New Jersey has adopted the general same criteria for determining an employee’s exempt classification under state law.
As yet another consequence of the #metoo movement, the New Jersey Legislature has passed legislation aimed at prohibiting employers from including certain waiver provisions and non-disclosure clauses routinely found in employment agreements. Senate Bill No. 121 (“the Bill”) , which is expected to be signed by signed by the Governor, will bring about a sea change for employers on several fronts.
The Ban on Waiver of Rights Under the LAD: Until now, employers were free to enter into agreements with employees to waive rights to jury trial and arbitrate all employment-related claims, including claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”). In recent years New Jersey courts have declined to enforce individual arbitration agreements unless the employer agrees to preserve certain procedural and substantive rights, such as statutory rights to punitive damages and attorney fees, the full benefit of the statute of limitations period, and the absorption of the costs of arbitration by the employer. Nevertheless, properly crafted waivers and arbitration agreements were enforced by the courts despite the employee’s surrender the right to a jury trial in a judicial or arbitral forum.
Under the Bill, a provision “in any employment contract that waives any substantive or procedural right or remedy relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation or harassment shall be deemed against public policy and unenforceable.” Moreover, the Bill bars any prospective waiver of any right or remedy under the LAD or any other state statute. Whereas the rights conferred by the LAD include a jury trial, the Bill effectively prohibits an employer from entering into any agreement i) to waive a trial by jury of LAD claims in a judicial forum, or ii) to arbitrate LAD claims which necessarily dispenses with a jury. At the very least, employers may be required to exclude claims for discrimination, retaliation and harassment from arbitration agreements. No surprisingly, these mandates do not apply to collective bargaining agreements.
Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events