09.19.2023Assessing the New Jersey Elections Transparency Act Before the 2023 General ElectionWe are now less than eight weeks out from Election Day 2023, and even less time to go before the start of vote-by-mail and early voting. This year is the first in a series of big elections: the entire New Jersey Legislature on the ballot in 2023, before the Presidential election in 2024, and the Gubernatorial in 2025.
09.11.2023Rajiv Parikh Named to ROI-NJ Influencers: People of Color 2023 ListingFirm Partner Rajiv D. Parikh, Esq. has been named to ROI-NJ's Influencers: People of Color 2023 listing, a list which he has been named to consecutively since its inception. ROI-NJ created this list to shine a light on the most influential people bringing diverse perspectives to New Jersey's business community.
08.31.2023Risk of Cemex Bargaining Order Raises Stakes for Employers that Commit Serious Unfair Labor Practices During Union CampaignsExpressing palpable frustration with an employer that committed many unfair labor practice charges after a union filed an election petition, and acknowledging the lack of serious disincentives to engage in unlawful behavior opposing a union campaign, on August 25, 2023, the NLRB issued a new set of rules that will apply immediately to many employers and unions locked in a unionizing campaign. The major change is that the Board has determined that it has the power to impose a bargaining order on an employer that engages in serious unfair labor practice charges during an organizing campaign despite the union’s losing a Board-supervised election and without entertaining the remedy of a re-run election.
08.29.2023The ABC’S Of The EEOC’S Proposed Regulations On Pregnancy: Accommodations In The WorkplaceEffective July 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires employers with 15 or more employees, to accommodate pregnancy and pregnancy-related complications in the workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is the federal agency charged with enforcing the PWFA, recently issued proposed regulations clarifying employer obligations and employee rights under the PWFA. The PWFA requires employers to provide qualified employees and applicants with known limitations relating to pregnancy, childbirth or related mediation conditions with reasonable workplace accommodations, unless the accommodation causes an undue hardship. The key terms, underlined for clarity, are explained herein.
08.22.2023New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Issues Order Setting Forth New Community Solar ProgramOn August 16, 2023, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued an order setting forth the new Community Solar program that is replacing the prior Pilot Program. This Community Solar Energy Program (“CSEP”) continues upon the foundation laid by the initial program, but builds upon, and in some way restricts, what has gone before.
08.22.2023Genova Burns Attorneys Named to 2024 edition of "Best Lawyers in America®" and "Best Lawyers in America®: Ones to Watch" ListingsGenova Burns is pleased to congratulate ten firm attorneys that have been named to the 2024 edition of "Best Lawyers in America®" listing. We would also like to congratulate firm Partner Maria R. Fruci, Esq. and Counsel Latiqua M. Liles, Esq. for their inclusion to "Best Lawyers in America®: Ones to Watch" listing in its 2024 edition. Genova Burns remains committed to providing best-in-class service to its clients and thanks Best Lawyers® for these distinctions.
08.15.2023You Can Say What?! New Jersey District Court Rejects Claims of Hostile Work Environment On July 29, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Tavares v. Builders FirstSource Northeast Group, Inc., granted Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment most notably finding that racist and sexual comments that Plaintiff used to support his claim of hostile work environment did not rise to the “severe and pervasive” standard necessary to support a claim. This case harkens back to the notorious case of Heitzman v. Monmouth County, 321 N.J. Super. 133 (App. Div. 1999), where several anti-Semitic comments were found insufficient to meet the “severe and pervasive” standard. Heitzman was of course cited by every defense lawyer for the next decade to try to defeat hostile work environment claims. So, the question becomes does Tavares mean that the New Jersey courts will become more skeptical of plaintiff’s claims and more supportive of employer defenses like in Heitzman, despite the Me Too movement and the seeming reluctance by the New Jersey judiciary to grant summary judgment to employers? The answer is context matters. There are lessons from Tavares to be sure, but it does not yet herald a major shift to employers in the New Jersey courts.
08.14.2023After the Injury: NJ District Court Reiterates Indefinite Light Duty & Unpaid Leave is Not a Reasonable AccommodationOn July 12, 2023, in Wraith v. Wayfair, Inc., the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment in favor of an employer, dismissing a former employee’s claim of disability discrimination and failure to accommodate in violation of the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA), the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) and the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Law (PSLL) following an on-the-job injury. The District Court found that the employer did not have a duty to accommodate an indefinite light duty or indefinite leave under the law where the only information provided was a physician note indicating the employee could not return to work.
08.11.2023Genova Burns Taps Avi Kelin to Lead Corporate Political Activity Law SpecialtyGenova Burns LLC is pleased to announce that Avi D. Kelin, Esq. is taking over the leadership as the new Chair of the Corporate Political Activity Law Group. Given recent events, his expertise in campaign-finance laws is more relevant than ever before. As the founder and chair of Genova Burns’s Autonomous Vehicle Law service area, Avi is always up for a challenge.
08.10.2023NLRB Applies a Shifting Burdens Analysis in Reviewing Employer Work Rules; Boeing OverruledOn August 2, 2023, the NLRB further limited employers’ flexibility in designing work rules by holding that all work rules will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and no work rules will get an automatic pass. The Board’s 3-1 decision in Stericycle Inc. holds that once the NLRB General Counsel proves that a work rule could chill employees’ exercise of Section 7 rights, there is a presumption that the rule is unlawful, which the employer can rebut only with proof that the work rule serves a lawful business interest, the rule advances the lawful interest, and a more narrowly tailored rule would not advance the interest.
08.08.2023NJDOL Issues Proposed Regulations Implementing N.J. Temporary Workers Bill of Rights ActOn July 21, 2023 the N.J. Department of Labor and Workforce Development (Department) issued long-awaited guidance regarding the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights Act. Certain provisions of the Act took effect on August 5, 2023. These regulations address Sections 1 through 7, and Section 10 of the Act only and are not technically binding on employers and temporary help service firms (THSFs) now since they are in their proposed form and the Department is accepting public comments through October 20; however, they provide additional guidance for employers and THSFs who are trying to comply with the provisions of the Act.
08.07.2023Team Genova Burns Wins 2023 Battle Of The Barristers And Will Chair The 2024 GameGenova Burns team Captain and firm Associate Thomas Garlick, Esq. has lead Team GB to victory in the 2023 Fresh Air Fund Battle of the Barristers!
As Covered By NJ.com:
The Battle of the Barristers, an annual fundraising softball tournament which benefits the Greater Newark Fresh Air Fund, was held this year on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield.
Nine teams competed in this year’s tournament, where professional umpires called balls, strikes and outs. Participating in the 2023 tournament were: Prudential Financial of Newark; Gibbons P.C., Newark; Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Brody & Agnello, P.C. Roseland; Fox Rothchild LLP, Morristown; Lowenstein Sandler LLP, Roseland; McCarter & English, LLP, Newark; Cole Schotz, P.C., Hackensack; Genova Burns, Newark, and, Brach Eichler LLC, Roseland.
After a day of softball, Genova Burns defeated Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Brody & Agnello 13-6 to become tournament champions.
08.03.2023Entrepreneurial Opportunity Takes A Back Seat In Revised NLRB Test Of Employee Versus Independent Contractor StatusOn June 13, 2023, in a 3-1 decision, the NLRB overruled its own 2019 decision in SuperShuttle DFW and returned to the test of statutory employee status in its 2014 FedEx II decision which it terms carefully calibrated. In doing so, the Board held that the Atlanta Opera’s makeup artists, wig artists, hairstylists, and others who worked at the Opera only when operatic productions were staged are employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and not independent contractors. The Atlanta Opera, Inc. The NLRB refused to apply the U.S. Court of Appeals 2009 ruling in FedEx I which held that entrepreneurial opportunity is an animating principle of the independent contractor test and accused the Court of misperceiving Board law. The Board decision in Atlanta Opera leaves no doubt that entrepreneurial opportunity is not a super-factor in the analysis of employee status, and is only one factor to be considered in analyzing independent contractor versus employee status. The NLRB held that its prior SuperShuttle DFW holding is no longer the law since it conflicts with common law agency principles, and U.S. Supreme Court and NLRB precedent.
08.02.2023Cleaning House: New Jersey Enacts Building Service Worker Retention Law On July 24, 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law Assembly Bill 4682/Senate Bill 2389 protecting non-managerial and non-professional service workers, who work at eligible locations, from sudden and unexpected loss of employment due to changes in ownership. New Jersey’s new law is the second of its kind in the United States.
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