Are You a Material Supplier or Are You a Bank? If You Extend Credit to Customers You’re Both Does your business offer lines of credit to its customers? If so, are you approaching these transactions with the same caution as a bank? To facilitate business transactions with regular customers, many…
Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events
Religious Garb in the Workplace and the Potential For Employer Liability
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employee’s religious practices, including religious garments. In an 8-1 ruling, the United States Supreme Court recently decided an employer may be liable for religious discrimination if its hiring decision was motivated by the applicant’s…
How Can That Be? NLRB Overturns Arbitrator’s Decision and Finds that Racist Comments are Protected Activity Under the NLRA
In recent years the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued numerous opinions that decidedly favor employee rights to engage protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) over employer rights to manage conduct in the workplace. However, a recent decision by a NLRB administrative law judge that Cooper…
New Department of Labor Interpretation Renders Independent Contractors an Endangered Species
On July 15, 2015 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Administrator Interpretation aimed at eradicating what the DOL perceives as widespread improper misclassification of “employees” as “independent contractors” in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the DOL, misclassifying workers as independent contractors results in…
New Jersey Supreme Court Confirms Employee Can Be Criminally Prosecuted For Theft of Employer Documents
In its recent landmark ruling in State v. Saavedra, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a former school board employee who was pursing discrimination and retaliation claims against the school could be criminally prosecuted for removing confidential school documents she claimed would aid her in pursuing those legal claims.…
Anonymous Racist Note Triggers Liability for Employer Who Failed to Undertake an Investigation
A recent decision from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (a federal court with jurisdiction over MD, NC, SC and VA) is a stark reminder to employers of the consequences of failing to appropriately respond to any and all claims of unlawful workplace harassment no, matter what the source. In…
NLRB Announces New “Joint Employer” Standard Significantly Extends Liability to Employers for Workplace Labor Violations by Contractors
For nearly 30 years the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has reasoned that two businesses can only be deemed “joint employers” – and thus jointly responsible for purposes of collective bargaining and unfair labor practices – upon a showing that the companies exercised actual, direct and substantial control…
U.S. Department of Labor Moves To Restrict “White Collar” Overtime Exemptions
Employers: Prepare to Reclassify Employees Ranks of OT-eligible employees will swell by an estimated 5 million, under proposed DOL rules The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) long-awaited proposals overhauling the “white collar exemptions (which include the executive, administrative and learned professional exemptions) to the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor…
New Jersey’s Complex Business Litigation Program Offers Significant Benefits
Complex Business Litigation Program Offers Significant Benefits Commercial Litigators and the Business Community Should Take Over the past several years, the New Jersey Judiciary has actively endeavored to address the concerns of litigants and practitioners involved in complex business and construction cases, by developing methods to streamline and simplify the often…
Proposed Regulation Subjects Financial Advisers to Fiduciary Duties Under ERISA and Tax Code
On April 14, 2015, the Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) released a proposed regulation defining who is a “fiduciary” of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) as a result of giving investment advice to a plan or its participants…