Morristown New Jersey Employment Law Blog

Workplace romances can complicate office politics and watercooler conversation, but when the relationships involve employees with unequal power, employers can find their employment policies questioned, publicly scrutinized and even the target of litigation.

That’s the conclusion of a report by New Jersey’s News 12 on the recent ouster of McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who was dispatched after a consensual relationship with an employee became known. The report says that the ouster and #MeToo movement is prompting more companies to adopt employment policies that address workplace romantic relationships.

New Jersey employers have all of the usual challenges that businesses must deal with daily, but they are also compelled to try to keep up with our state’s constant changes in employment law. Of course, it’s not enough to just know about the changes, you are required to comply with each new rule, regulation and statute.

Before next year's big expansion of New Jersey’s paid family leave program, employers should be aware of a couple of recent changes that went into effect. The changes are designed to make it easier for employees to take paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child, a disability or to care for a family member.

We’re grateful to those who regularly stop by our Morristown Employment Law Blog to check out news and views. You know that it has been a busy summer with revisions to New Jersey employment law coming at a furious pace.

We would like to dive back into a topic we covered briefly in a post back in late July: a new ban on employers asking job applicants about salary history.

As regular readers of our Morristown, New Jersey, Employment Law Blog know, there have been a number of significant changes to state laws and regulations in recent months. That trend continued a few days ago when Acting Governor Sheila Oliver signed into law A-2903/S-1790, which makes important changes to the Wage Payment Law, the Equal Pay Act and the New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law.

With the amended law in place, an employer who owes unpaid wages (or wages lost because of retaliation) could face increasingly stiff penalties. The employee can get not only those wages, but also damages equal to 200 percent of the unpaid amount – plus attorney’s fees and reasonable costs.