New Jersey Employment Lawyer Blog

You can't make this story up. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. An arbitrator has ruled that the EEOC committed the violations on a nationwide basis with its own employees. The EEOC is a federal agency that enforces employment laws. The EEOC also operates under a work sharing agreement with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, the New Jersey agency charged with enforcing New Jersey employment laws. In the State of New Jersey, aggrieved employees that are not represented by a New Jersey employment lawyer often have the option filing a claim with the EEOC or the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.

The practice of the EEOC was to offer compensatory time off to its employees in lieu of paying overtime pay. According to the arbitrator this was considered "forced volunteering" and therefore, constitutes a knowing violation of the law. Arbitrator Steven M. Wolf ruled that the Exec's actions exceeded negligence, thus meeting the knowing standard.

As a result of the decision, the EEOC may be required to pay back wages to its employees. The ruling held that the EEOC violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The arbitrator noted that employees were pressured to work extra hours and were not offered additional compensation for their time.

The ruling comes at a time of an unprecedented number of applications being filed with the EEOC. In the last eight years, the EEOC has lost a quarter of its staff.

The Government Accountability Office released a report today which found that the Federal Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division has mishandled 9 out of every 10 cases. The Wage and Hour Division is charged with enforcing minimum wages, overtime and other wage claims brought by employees. The results of the report are shocking, especially given the extremely poor state of the economy. But workers in the State of New Jersey may have an alternative. New Jersey employment laws allow employees to file a civil lawsuit. The news of this report may create an increase of cases for New Jersey employment lawyers. In New Jersey, employees may start looking to New Jersey employment lawyers for help in collecting unpaid wages.

New Jersey's Wage Payment Law and Wage and Hour Laws require the payment of wages and minimum wages to employees for work performed. New Jersey's Wage Payment Law carries stiff penalties. A person that violates the law shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and, upon conviction for a violation, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000. Each day during which any violation of this act continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.

New Jersey employees may file a claim for wages and request a jury trial. Alternatively, New Jersey employees may file a wage claim with the New Jersey Commissioner of Labor. The recent news from the Government Accountability Office about the Federal Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division will most likely spark an increase of filings into the New Jersey courts and with the Commissioner of Labor.

New Jersey employment lawyers representing plaintiffs will likely be elated, but employers will be forced to hire counsel as well. In New Jersey, corporations are usually required to hire an attorney if the company is sued in the Superior Court.