New Jersey Prohibits Sex Offenders from Working for Youth Organizations; Proposed Amendment Redefines “Misconduct” for Unemployment Benefit Disqualification Purposes; NYS DOL Issues Required Notice and Acknowledgement Form that New York Employers Must Use When Hiring New Employees; “Nurse Coverage Plans” Mandatory for Involuntary Overtime in New York; Release Valid Under OWBPA Where Plaintiff Was Given Appropriate Time to Consider It, Notwithstanding He Signed It Immediately Due to His Own Poor Financial Condition; New Jersey Supreme Court Holds Defendants Cannot Recover Fees in CEPA and LAD Cases under Offer of Judgment Rule; ADEA Claim Fails Where Employer Had Numerous Reasons to Fire Employee; Age Clearly Not the “But For” Factor in Termination.

In an unpublished opinion, a federal district court in New Jersey has upheld a jury verdict in which a company was found liable for violating the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA). The violation occurred when the company’s managers intentionally accessed a “chat group” on an employee’s MySpace account without having received authorization from the MySpace member to join the group. Further, the court upheld the jury’s finding of malicious conduct, which supported an award of punitive damages.

New Jersey Announces Nation’s First RETURN-to-Work Program; 5,000+ NJ Residents Have Received Family Leave Insurance Benefits; Legislation Proposed to Provide Paid Sick Time in New York City; Appellate Division Adopts Broad Definition of “Opposition” Under the NJLAD; Employee May Bring FMLA Retaliation Claim Although Leave Had Not Commenced When Allegedly Unlawful Action Occurred; Plaintiff’s Failure to Follow Employer’s Version of the Interactive Process Does Not Justify Employer Abandoning the Process.

New York “Mini-COBRA” Law; Extended Health Insurance Coverage for Dependent Children Through Age 29; “Litigation Hold” Letters May Be Discoverable Where Company’s Efforts to Preserve Evidence Are Questionable; Plaintiff’s Use in Litigation of Confidential Documents Taken from Employer Does Not Constitute Protected Activity; Release Signed by Plaintiff Post-Termination Upheld as Voluntary; Under Title VII, Employer’s Remedial Action Is Adequate If It Is Reasonably Calculated to End the Harassment, Even If the Harassment Continues; No CEPA Claim Where Employee’s Interest Was Financial Gain; FMLA and NJFLA “Same or Equivalent Position” Requirement Analyzed; Third Circuit Addresses Standard for Evaluating Misappropriation of Confidential Information Claims.

New Jersey - Governor Corzine Signs “Egan & Quijano” Bill Imposing Harsher Penalties on Employers Found to Have Knowingly Violated Workers’ Compensation Requirements; New Jersey Minimum Wage Increase Affects New Wage Execution/Garnishment Orders; New York State Human Rights Law Amended to Allow Imposition of Civil Penalties and Fines Against Employers Found to Have Committed Discriminatory Employment Practices; New York Department of Labor Further Revises Its NY WARN Act Emergency Regulations; New Jersey - Overseas Employees May Be Eligible for New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Benefits;Third Circuit Refuses to Certify Class Challenging UPS’ No Light Duty Policy Under ADA; New Jersey - Supreme Court Holds Arbitration Agreements in Electronic Form Are Valid.

Reminder: Employees Now Eligible for New Jersey Family Leave Insurance Benefits; New Jersey Minimum Wage Increases on July 24; Employment Protection for Volunteer Emergency Responders Bill Proposed; Trade Secrets Legislation Introduced; Bill Prohibiting Sex Offenders from Working in Youth Serving Organizations Near Passage; Bill to Establish Penalties for Employers that Permit Unauthorized Aliens to Operate Motor Vehicles; New Jersey Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Would Limit Debt Collectors’ Ability to Contact Debtors at Work; Bill to Allow Corporate Officers to Make Equity Grants to Employees Reaches Governor; Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Extends Right to Sue Only for Discriminatory Compensation Claims; Mere Supervisory Authority Does Not Make Employee “Management Level” for Purposes of Title VII Liability; Attorney-Client Privilege Protects Plaintiff’s E-Mails to Attorney from Her Personal E-Mail Account, Using Employer’s Computer; Accessing Employees’ Private Internet Chatroom Violates Stored Communication & Wiretap Laws; “Psycho Bitch” Comment Sufficient to Preclude Summary Judgment on Hostile Work Environment Claim; Accepting Voluntary Separation Plan Not “Good Cause Attributable to the Work”; Termination for Cause Insufficient to Deny Employee Compensation Already Earned; Employer Not Entitled to Jury Charge on Ellerth-Faragher Affirmative Defense Where Evidence Was Insufficient to Establish That Policy Existed and Plaintiffs Knew About It; Release in Severance Agreement Invalidated Under OWBPA.

A New Jersey appeals court has denied unemployment benefits to 1,100 former managers based on their acceptance of a voluntary severance package. Black-Melone, et al. v. Board of Review, et al., A-0395-06T3 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. June 5, 2009). Affirming a judgment in favor of the former employer, the Court found that the plaintiffs were disqualified from receiving benefits because they “left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work.”

Family Leave Insurance Forms Now Available from NJDOL; Bill Would Create Civil “Rape Shield” Law in Sexual Harassment Cases; Maximum Weeks Payable for Extended Unemployment Benefits Raised from 13 to 20 Weeks; Bill Provides Enhanced Penalties for Repeat Violators of Wage and Hour Laws; Bill Seeks to Prevent Striking Workers from Receiving Unemployment Benefits; Senate Resolution Urges Governor to Suspend Prevailing Wage Requirement During Current Economic Crisis; Bill Bars Certain Sex Offenders from Positions in Youth Serving Organizations; Supervisors May Be Individually Liable Under NJLAD for Failing to Respond to Harassment Complaints; CEPA Claim Allowed Where Employee Objected to Use of Company’s Web Portals Due to Lack of Privacy Protection; FLSA Verdict Upheld Against Staples; Liquidated Damages Awarded; Ambiguity in Commission Plan Results in Additional Commissions to Former Employee; ADA Claim Dismissed Where Plaintiff Failed to Present Evidence That His Employer Perceived Him As Substantially Limited in a Major Life Activity; Court Rejects Employer’s Defamation Claim Based on Statements Posted on Message Board; Appellate Division Limits Immigration-Related Discovery.

Reminder Regarding New Jersey Paid Family Leave; New York WARN Act Emergency Regulations Are Extended; Employer Not Liable Where Assault by Employee Not Foreseeable; Third Circuit Rejects Religious Discrimination Claim Where No Accommodation Could Be Made Without Undue Burden; “Over 70 Exception” to the NJLAD Does Not Extend to Renewal of Existing Employees’ Employment Contracts; Demographic Evidence Admissible to Defeat Age Claim; No Breach of Settlement Agreement by Employer Where Employee Agreed to Resign But Was Disciplined Pending Approval of Settlement Agreement; Plaintiff Required to Prove Existence of Reasonable Accommodation to Establish Prima Facie Case of Disability Discrimination.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (“NJDOL”) has quietly implemented a new enforcement policy, Jackson Lewis has learned, prohibiting employers from rounding hourly employees’ time evenhandedly, a practice the agency formerly allowed. The change could cost employers dearly. The NJDOL has audited several New Jersey employers recently to determining whether they are rounding employees’ time for the purpose of wage payment. State auditors issued wage payment violations under the New Jersey wage-hour law, resulting in substantial back pay liability and penalties to employers found to have engaged in this practice unlawfully. The NJDOL now has acknowledged the change in its enforcement to Jackson Lewis.