Morristown New Jersey Employment Law Blog

Non-compete agreements are indispensable tools for many New Jersey businesses. It’s often crucial for employers to keep former employees from sharing trade secrets, client information and business plans with competitors.

But a non-compete agreement can cover other activities as well, such as limiting a former worker’s ability to recruit current employees for a competing firm. The agreements can also be crafted by an experienced employment law attorney to stop former employees from using customer lists and sales leads obtained on the job to poach valued customers or potential clients.

Lately, it seems like a new opinion about the enforceability of arbitration provisions in New Jersey comes out every day. In a newly published Appellate Division opinion, written by the Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division, Jack Sabatino, P.J.A.D., the court held a click through arbitration agreement was unenforceable. At the outset, the Court described the case as exemplifying the "inadequate way for an employer to go about extracting employees' agreement to submit to binding arbitration for future claims and thereby waive their rights to sue the employer and seek a jury trial." The plaintiff, here, alleged religious discrimination in violation of the New Jersey LAD (stemming from a mandatory vaccination policy).

In a slip copy opinion authored by Judge William J. Martini, U.S.D.J., the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey held that the recently enacted New Jersey Equal Pay Act (NJEPA) does not have retroactive application. Perrotto v. Morgan Advanced Materials, PLC, 2019 WL 192903 (Jan. 15, 2019). The issue came before the court by a Motion to Dismiss, filed by Defendants. The court granted the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss without holding oral argument. This holding is important to employers as the potential damages for violation of the Equal Pay Act are the salary or wages due from the employer plus an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, as well as attorney's fees.

Plaintiff had the title Controller/Human Resources until her termination on April 5, 2018. Just three weeks later, the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act (codified at N.J.S.A. §34:11-56:13) was signed into law, which requires "pay equality across all protected classes." The Act became effective on July 1, 2018. Plaintiff filed this action on July 27, 2018, alleging gender discrimination under New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination and retaliatory compensation practices under the NJEPA. Her compensation claim alleged Defendants paid male employees more than female employees, for substantially similar work.

When might one company be considered a "joint employer" with another company over the same workers? It's an important question, because joint employers share liability for labor law violations.

Consider the case of a franchisor and franchisee. When could a franchisor (parent company) be held liable for labor law violations committed by its franchisee? Traditionally, franchisors have only been held responsible for franchisees' labor law violations when the franchisor has exercised direct control over significant aspects of the employment relationship, such as on hiring, pay or working conditions.