New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

Many people in New Jersey are of the false impression that only police and fire employees are permitted to retire under the age of 40. The Star Ledger of New Jersey just ran an article pointing out this is not true. Most public employees in the State of New Jersey can retire with a guaranteed pension after 25 years of service. Of course, any public employee in the State of New Jersey that is looking to retire early should always seek the advice of a New Jersey employment attorney.

Employment lawyers in New Jersey representing the New Jersey State troopers who challenged the constitutionality of a New Jersey policy that bans them from moonlighting as lawyers saw their appeal dismissed on Wednesday. The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge's dismissal of the suit for failure to state a claim, agreeing that the plaintiffs had not made out a case of violation of equal protection or procedural due process. Until May 20, 2007, the trooper lawyers could handle noncriminal matters such as wills and real estate closings with the attorney general's approval. The policy changed to restrict troopers to representing members of their immediate families for free in non-adversarial matters with the attorney general's prior approval.

Equal pay applies to lawyers the same way the law applies to any other employee according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Employment lawyers for the EEOC filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority is a bi-state agency.

The EEOC filed suit on behalf of three female lawyers. The lawyers complained they were paid less in wages than men. It is allaged that the men did comparable work.The lawsuit was filed Sept. 29, 2010 with the agency before the lawsuit was filed.

The lawsuit states that the agency paid women lawyers in non-supervisory positions "salaries that are thousands of dollars less than the salaries of non-supervisory male attorneys." The lawsuit further adds "the disparity in pay cannot be attributed to factors other than sex."

The lawsuit alleges that the authority violated the Federal Equal Pay Act of 1963. The lawsuit also requests a permanent injunction against the practice in the future.

The lawsuit also alleges that the authority violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by firing two women. One woman is 55 and the other is 57. The lawsuit alleges that the women were fired in 2007, because of their age, and that the authority then hired lawyers under the age of 40.

It should be intertesting to see NJ employment lawyers for the EEOC and the Port Authority employment lawyers litigate this case.

New Jersey employment lawyers for the State and unions may be going to war. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recently made a decision not to give workers Black Friday off. New Jersey's former Governor, Jon Corzine, had permitted the unions to trade the day after Thanksgiving for Lincoln's Birthday in February. The workers can take the time as a vacation day.

The CWA state director, Hetty Rosenstein, is calling Christie's move "dirty pool".
Employee Relations director David Cohen has gone on the record to state that legislation is needed to exchange holidays. Otherwise, Cohen says state workers could get both days off.

According to the Associated Press, one union leader is threatening to go to court seeking to enforce Corzine's 2009 Memorandum of Agreement.

It will be interesting to see how the New Jersey empoloyment lawyers, and labor lawyers for the uinions, battle this dispute.

Four district employees employed by the Northfield Board of Education will be subjected to a public vetting at the Board of Education's meeting this evening as to why they were given Rice notices by district officials.

New Jersey employment law requires a that a Rice notice be given to any public employee before any discussion of the employee's employment status at public meetings.

According to the New Jersey Education Association representative, Vince Perna, the notices were sent to four teachers. He confirmed that the teachers asked that the issue be aired in public.

Superintendent of Schools Janice Fipp refused to comment when or why the teachers were given the notices. The Superintendent did state that the notices aren't related to the district's budget.

It is not clear from the news feeds whether the teachers are represented by employment lawyers.