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Employment Law

Orange mayor faces prison time after pleading guilty to accepting kickbacks

07/01/2008
Mims Hackett, Jr., who served simultaneously as state assemblyman and mayor of Orange, has pleaded guilty to attempted extortion in federal court. Hackett admitted he accepted a $5,000 bribe in August 2007 from someone he thought was an insurance broker seeking help in getting more city business …

Bad behavior was the kiss of death for Passaic employee

07/01/2008
Janice Keels joined the Passaic municipal payroll as a judiciary clerk in 1999. Almost immediately, her supervisor noted that she had poor interpersonal skills. For example, Keels complained in May 2000 about a co-worker, saying she would hit her if she had to, and repeating, “I’ll hit her” …

Prepare now for Paid Family Leave Act, taking effect in 2009

07/01/2008
On May 2, 2008, Gov. Jon Corzine signed the Paid Family Leave Act (PFLA), making New Jersey the third state to provide workers with paid family-leave benefits. The PFLA takes effect on January 1, 2009, when employees will begin contributing to the fund …

Track intermittent leave meticulously when you offset FMLA time with paid leave

07/01/2008
Employers are allowed to substitute paid time off for unpaid FMLA leave. But employers have to let employees know that’s what they are doing. And that can get tricky if the employee is taking intermittent leave for a chronic condition, plus leave for other personal needs such as vacation or mild illness …

Read EEOC complaint carefully: Employees can’t later expand lawsuit

07/01/2008
Typically, an employment discrimination lawsuit starts with an EEOC complaint. That document is often an employer’s first notice that an employee plans to take an employment dispute to court. Review it thoroughly to determine the scope of the problem. If the employee later tries to add additional discrimination claims, you’ll be prepared to point out that they didn’t appear in the original EEOC allegations …

A funny thing happened while you were out of the office

07/01/2008
Huntington Township Assessor Joan Stoffel has filed a lawsuit claiming a new state law that phased out elected township assessors is unconstitutional. Stoffel is seeking class-action status on behalf of more than 100 township assessors …

‘I am the law’ cop costs town $5,000

07/01/2008
When Ryan Belcher and his fiancée, Daraina Gleason, broke down on the Indiana Toll Road in February 2004, Bill’s Professional Towing hooked up their van and towed it to a lot in Orland. Four days later, Belcher and Gleason went to Bill’s to remove some items from the van …

Loved, lost: Crafting effective workplace dating policies

07/01/2008
Many companies that otherwise permit co-workers to date draw a bright line that prohibits managers from being romantically involved with those who report to them, either directly or indirectly. There are many good reasons for such a prohibition … Consequently, many companies maintain strict nonfraternization policies between supervisors and subordinates.

Paying for noncompete agreement?

07/01/2008
Q. We are a small company that has to aggressively market ourselves to our customers in order to compete with larger suppliers. To protect our client base, our COO wants to require our sales force to sign a noncompete/
nonsolicitation agreement. If we want our salespeople to sign off on a noncompete agreement, do we have to give them anything in exchange, like a bonus? …

Repeating sexual harassment training

07/01/2008
Q. How often should a company conduct sexual harassment training for its supervisors? …