In ROI-NJ’s recent article, Robert Anderson suggests the potential for the talk of trade wars to permeate other sectors of the economy, potentially adversely impacting other business segments. Worst case, this could make for a stifling of the free-for-all in business buying and selling that’s going on currently.
To read the full article online click here.
Robert Anderson, chair of Lindabury’s Mergers and Acquisitions group was recently interviewed by ROI-NJ in regards to the recently increase in M&A activity. Bob has indicated that the the last nine months have been his busiest of the past 30 years.
To read the full article online, click here.
Kathleen Connelly of Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper in Westfield has been handling management-side employment law matters for 25 years, but has also distinguished herself as a mentor. She helped found in 2007, and continues to take a leadership role in, the firm’s Women’s Business Initiative, and has a reputation at the firm of always being willing to take time to show and explain to colleagues how to handle challenging tasks.
“I have always had an inner teacher instinct that does not want to simply delegate, but strives to educate individuals so that they are armed with the information they need … I remember often feeling both terrified and incompetent in my early years, and I try to change that experience for young associates to the extent I can.” says Kathleen.
You can read the full article, Connelly Uses ‘Inner Teacher Instinct’ at Lindabury McCormick, on the New Jersey Law Journal’s website (subscription may be required).
The floodgate of sexual harassment allegations spawned by the #MeToo movement is evidence that employers have dropped the ball on fostering work environments free from inappropriate sexual behaviors. The good news is, there are three simple steps employers can take to begin preventing workplace harassment from occurring — and potentially avoid liability if legal action ensues.
The courts have created a safe harbor defense available in most instances to employers who can show they acted reasonably to prevent the occurrence of workplace harassment. Although most employers have implemented written policies prohibiting sexual harassment, merely disseminating such policies falls short of the actions courts require to invoke the safe harbor defense. Rather, employers must show that their anti-harassment policies are far more than paper documents, but are part of a program enforced through consistent practice and employee training. Employers may qualify for the defense if they undertake three actions.
Action 1: Distribute an Anti-Harassment/Complaint Policy
If you are not already thinking about cybersecurity for your company or firm, you should be. Regardless of your organization’s size or industry, cyber crime is probably the greatest threat to your bottom line today.
One of the most important things a company/firm can do is to regularly conduct an investigation to understand what its cybersecurity defense weaknesses and vulnerabilities may be. The results of such an investigation most likely will produce a lengthy list of potential problem areas that in an ideal world should all be promptly and exhaustively remedied. Many times, this remedial approach is not feasible as most companies have budgetary and other practical limitations that may require them to prioritize which vulnerabilities to address first, and the degree of remediation of each such vulnerability that can reasonably be undertaken at a given time.
Unfortunately, another problem with this scenario is that the company or firm will end up with a written report identifying all variety of cybersecurity weaknesses, and then a set of actions that address some — but not all — of those weaknesses. If, at a later date, the organization experiences a cyber breach incident, this written report is likely to become Exhibit A of any plaintiff action against the company over that breach. The report, after all, shows that the company or firm clearly knew about certain vulnerabilities and chose not to remedy several of them.
Effective January 8, 2018, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”) was amended to include breastfeeding as a protected category. Under the amended law, employers must provide nursing mothers with reasonable breaks during the work day and a suitable private location close to the employee’s work area to express milk for her infant child. The only exception to this requirement to accommodate is when doing so would place an undue hardship on the employer’s business. When considering whether or not an undue hardship exists, the court will look to the following factors:
Lindabury’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice Group Co-Chair Eric Levine was recently interviewed by NJBIZ regarding the recent security lapse of a South Jersey physicians network which wiped out the password protection on a supposedly secure site.
Eric says, “A company that engages in thorough due diligence may be able to use that as a defense if it’s sued as a result of a third-party provider hack.”
“It’s important to deal with cybersecurity and other issues up front, especially when you’re dealing with a new vendor,” Levine said. “Consider the depth of access to your data that they need, too. If a firm is just providing you with paper products, they don’t need deep access to your data, so a cybersecurity audit may not be very important.
In the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, the New York Legislature and the New York City Counsel have adopted groundbreaking legislation imposing significant employer obligations and expanding employee protections for unlawful sexual harassment in the workplace.
New York State Legislation: As part of its 2018-2019 state budget bill, on the New York Assembly included numerous provisions aimed at eradicating workplace sexual harassment. In his press release, Gov. Cuomo (who is expected to sign the bill) described the action as “the strongest and most comprehensive anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation,” which includes the following key provisions:
In recent years many New Jersey municipalities passed varying ordinances requiring employees within their jurisdictions to be afforded paid sick leave benefits. To the relief of those employers who were dealing with the patchwork of local sick leave ordinances, on May 2, 2018, Governor Murphy signed New Jersey’s first state-wide paid sick leave act into law, pre-empting all local ordinances in favor of uniform paid sick leave requirements. The act becomes effective on October 29, 2018.
Although most employers provide some measure of paid time-off benefits, they must nevertheless ensure that existing policies meet the minimum requirements of the new paid sick leave act. For those employers who do not provide any paid time off benefits for sickness, they will now be required to do so for those absences that fall within the law.
Coverage: Under the new law, all New Jersey employers, regardless of size, must provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked to each covered employee, including temporary employees, working in the State. Construction employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement, health care employees and public employees with paid sick leave benefits are excluded from coverage.
Similar to other federal anti-discrimination laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) expressly prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of disability. The ADA, however, is unique in that it requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to its disabled employees.
Ordinarily, it is up to the employee to request an accommodation for his or her disability. In order to do so, the employee may verbally advise that he or she needs an adjustment, change, or assistance at work and that this need is related to a disability. In spite of this formality, there are other ways an employer may become obligated to provide an accommodation even in the absence of a formal request. For that reason, employers should learn to identify specific circumstances in which an employee may require an accommodation. For example, if the employer knows of the employee’s disability, sees the employee struggling to access existing facilities or notices that the disability itself prevents the employee from requesting the accommodation, the employer should initiate a conversation with the employee to determine whether an accommodation is necessary.
Once an employee has requested an accommodation or the employer has identified its obligation to provide an accommodation, the employer should strive to diligently address the need of an accommodation by way of clear and constant communication. This form of communication is referred to as the “interactive process” under the ADA. The interactive process and is an informal practice in which the covered individual and the employer determine the precise limitations created by the disability and how best to respond to the need for accommodation.
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