With an increasing number of employees being diagnosed with COVID-19 and requiring a leave of absence to recover from the virus, the question arises whether having COVID-19 renders an employee “disabled” as defined under the...more
In a 6-to-3 vote yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination because of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity — including being transgender — is unlawful discrimination “because of...more
6/16/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
After nearly three months of stay-at-home orders and the shutdown of non-essential retail businesses, New Jersey is slowly starting to reopen. Non-essential construction projects resumed, non-essential retail businesses have...more
COVID-19 has had the unprecedented impact of shuttering many businesses throughout the country and leading to record-high unemployment. For some businesses whose operations were hit particularly hard by the pandemic, meeting...more
The New Jersey Supreme Court just agreed to review whether the “good faith” defense is available to employers that rely upon determinations made by employees of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. In...more
Employers may have to prepare for an entirely new pay data reporting requirement to be revealed in the new year, but you can expect that any such proposal would not be as cumbersome or invasive as the current system. The...more
11/22/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour
In just a few short weeks, New Jersey employers will no longer be allowed to ask prospective employees about their salary history during the application or interview process or rely upon salary history in setting...more
11/20/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Application ,
Equal Pay ,
Governor Murphy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires that men and women in the same workplace be compensated with equal pay for equal work. Nearly every state has its own law that also prohibits discrimination in wages on the basis of...more
New Jersey employers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that a federal court has just pronounced that the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which went into effect on July 1, 2018, is not retroactive. This gives you some...more
More than seven years ago, female sales representatives who worked for Merck filed a class and collective action alleging discrimination in pay on the basis of their gender in violation of the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and Title...more
1/11/2019
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Class Members ,
Class Representatives ,
Collective Actions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fee Awards ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Retailers ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy just signed the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which was recently passed by the state legislature. His signature today means New Jersey’s antidiscrimination law will soon be expanded to prohibit...more
New Jersey will become the latest state to mandate a comprehensive equal pay law as Governor Phil Murphy announced that he will sign the “Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act”—recently passed by the state legislature—on April 24,...more
4/16/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enhanced Damages ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Governor Murphy ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
Punitive Damages ,
State Labor Laws ,
Treble Damages ,
Wage and Hour
A California state court just breathed new life into a class action lawsuit against Google that could have a significant impact on pay equity claims across the country. The March 27, 2018 ruling gave the stamp of approval to...more
4/4/2018
/ Amended Complaints ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Former Employee ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Google ,
Pleading Standards ,
Wage and Hour
On March 27, 2018, New Jersey became the latest state to pass comprehensive equal pay legislation, and one of the first states to pass an equal pay law that extends protections beyond gender to all classes of employees that...more
3/27/2018
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enhanced Damages ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Murphy ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
Punitive Damages ,
State Labor Laws ,
Treble Damages ,
Wage and Hour
The parties to a high-profile Equal Pay Act lawsuit have reached a multi-million dollar settlement that will be sure to capture the attention of employers across the country. Former partners of the law firm Chadbourne & Parke...more
3/15/2018
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Conditional Certification ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Law Firm Ownership ,
Law Firm Partners ,
Misclassification ,
Popular ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
In a 5 to 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that any statute of limitations applicable to an employee’s state law claims are suspended during the pendency of a federal lawsuit in which the state law claims are...more
1/23/2018
/ Appeals ,
Artis v District of Columbia ,
Employees ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Grace Period ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Supplemental Jurisdiction ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Tolling ,
Wrongful Termination
Hours after being sworn in as New Jersey’s 56th governor on January 16th, Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order prohibiting public employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s current or prior salary. In doing...more
1/18/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Equity ,
Governor Murphy ,
Job Applicants ,
Public Employees ,
Public Employers ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
A group of former Google employees just filed an amended complaint in California federal court in an attempt to breathe new life into their equal pay class action lawsuit, which had been dismissed in December for failing to...more
1/8/2018
/ Amended Complaints ,
Ascertainable Class ,
Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Former Employee ,
Google ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
When you combine an increased social awareness of pay disparity issues with an influx of new pay equity legislation at the state and local level, it’s no surprise that lawsuits involving large and high-profile employers are...more
11/21/2017
/ Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Compensation ,
Conditional Certification ,
Confidential Information ,
Counterclaims ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Email ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Proprietary Information ,
Sensitive Business Information ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. The law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, and September 2017 was no different. In order to make sure that you stay on top of the latest...more
10/7/2017
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
DACA ,
Dear Colleague Letter ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
First Amendment ,
Gig Economy ,
Google ,
GrubHub ,
Hurricane Irma ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Misclassification ,
Obama Administration ,
OFCCP ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Public Sector Unions ,
Rescission ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sexual Assault ,
Shop Fee Arrangements ,
Title IX ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump Administration ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Google, Inc. (“Google”) is the latest high profile employer in an onslaught of class actions by female employees alleging systemic discrimination in pay against women. Coupled with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance...more
Pay equity issues are hot. President Obama has made pay equity one of the hallmarks of his administration by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, establishing the National Equal Pay Task Force, and championing the fight...more
In furtherance of its commitment to combating pay discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently finalized its proposed changes to the Employer Information Report, commonly known as the EEO-1...more