Publications — Page 26 of 47 — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

How Does the Expansion of New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Laws Impact Employers?

Published on: June 25, 2018 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Under New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act enacted in 2010, registered physicians may prescribe medical marijuana to qualified individuals for the treatment of certain conditions. As designed and implemented under prior state administrations, it was often hard for medical marijuana patients to qualify and difficult for cultivators to operate. And previously, the qualifying conditions approved for treatment with marijuana were limited to a few select conditions for debilitating illnesses such as HIV, ALS, MS, IBS, Crohn’s disease, terminal cancer or other terminal illnesses.

However, last month Governor Phil Murphy issued an Executive Order for a wide ranging expansion of New Jersey’s medical marijuana program with significant changes to the number of approved conditions for treatment, the cost for registration, dispensary locations, as well as other immediate and future changes which will significantly impact the use of medical marijuana in state. Under this expansion, the qualifying conditions eligible for treatment with marijuana now include relatively common medical illnesses such as anxiety, migraines, Tourette’s syndrome, as well as chronic pain related to musculoskeletal disorders and chronic visceral pain. According to Governor Murphy, this expansion is aimed at changing “the restrictive culture of [New Jersey’s] medical marijuana program to make it more patient-friendly.”

The program will also cut registration and renewal fees from $200 to $100 every two years, with senior citizens and veterans added to the category of patients who pay only $20. And while patients must still be referred to the program by physicians who are registered and in good standing to practice in the State, this amendment has abolished the public physician registry, which will allow physicians to prescribe marijuana for patients without appearing on a public roster. In a state with roughly 28,000 physicians, just 536 physicians were registered under the prior public registry system. According to Murphy, many physicians were deterred from registering out of fear of the stigma associated with prescribing marijuana which is still illegal under federal law. As a result, the old public registry requirement had the effect of limiting patient access to registered providers who could prescribe medical marijuana. Medical marijuana expansion also allows Alternative Treatment Centers to apply to open satellite locations. New Jersey currently has only 5 (soon to be 6) approved Alternative Treatment Center statewide. Recent reforms will also allow registered caregivers to assist more than one qualified patient. As a result of these changes and others, New Jersey has added approximately 1,500 patients to the roughly 18,000 current medical marijuana users registered for this program in the past month alone.

The Impact Of Tariffs: Advisers Fear One Casualty Of A Trade War Will Be Thriving Market For Mergers

Published on: June 25, 2018 | by Robert W. Anderson

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.

Merger Mania: 2018 Is Shaping Up As A Banner Year For M&A, According To The Advisers In The Middle Of The Deals

Published on: June 22, 2018 | by Robert W. Anderson

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 Uses ‘Inner Teacher Instinct’ to Mentor Young Associates

Published on: June 21, 2018 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

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)

3 Simple Steps to Prevent Workplace Harassment

Published on: June 18, 2018 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

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

Protecting Privilege Before and After a Cyber Breach

Published on: June 8, 2018 | by Robert W. Anderson and Eric B. Levine

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.

How Are Employer’s Obligated to Accommodate Employees Who Are Also Nursing Mothers?

Published on: May 11, 2018 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

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:

The overall size of the employer’s business with respect to the number of employees, number and type of facilities, and size of the budget;
The type of the employer’s operations, including the composition and structure of the workplace;

NJBIZ: Vendor Vexation: Third-Party Providers Can Open Door to Hackers

Published on: May 9, 2018 | by Eric B. Levine

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.

Attention All New York Employers: State And City Now Mandate Sexual Annual Harassment Training And Other Measures

Published on: May 7, 2018 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

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:

Mandatory Training and Anti-Harassment Policy: regardless of size, all New York employers must provide annual “interactive” sexual harassment training to all employees that covers the following:

Paid Sick Leave Comes to New Jersey: Time To Update Your Employee Handbook

Published on: May 4, 2018 | by Kathleen M. Connelly

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.