It’s illegal for an employer to discriminate against any current or potential employee because of a disability. This means that an employer can’t choose not to hire, to fire, or take other adverse employment action against a person because of their disability if they are otherwise able to perform the essential functions of the job “with or without accommodation.” But what does “accommodation” mean? What does an employer have to do for a current or potential employee with a disability?

Although animal attacks occur frequently, many dog bites happen accidentally or unintentionally. Sometimes, an otherwise friendly dog can get overenthusiastic and bite a human playmate, or a puppy that isn’t yet fully trained can nip at a petting hand. Unfortunately, even unintentional bites can result in disability, impairment, or other medical issues. You may be hesitant to report a dog bite because you fear serious consequences for the dog; maybe you’ve heard that dogs that bite will be put down or taken away from their owner. In New Jersey, this is not necessarily the case. Knowing the law can help you protect your rights and recover what you deserve if you are injured by a dog.

Non-compete agreements are becoming more and more common. Once limited to high-level employees in whom companies invested a great deal of time and trust, these restrictions are now frequently imposed without negotiation on lower-wage and lower-level employees. The laws regarding which non-compete agreements are enforceable vary from state to state, and pending legislation may soon dramatically alter how New Jersey determines which non-compete agreements are enforceable against its workers. 

If you work in certain industries in New Jersey, your pay may be regulated by the New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act (PWA). This law establishes a “prevailing wage level,” or set wage rate, for workers engaged in construction, maintenance, and other services for many New Jersey public works projects. If the PWA applies to your position and your employer isn’t complying with its requirements, you may have a legal claim.

New Jersey became the 14th state to allow medical marijuana when the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act (“CUMCA”) was signed into law on January 18, 2010. Recently, the act was amended to expand patient access to medical marijuana, to provide job protections to medical marijuana users, and to create new drug testing procedures. By doing so, New Jersey joined multiple other states—including Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island—that offer employment protections to users of medical marijuana in compliance with state regulations.

Many pregnant women worry about telling their employer the good news, fearing that they will be demoted, terminated, or reassigned to less desirable duties. Before you talk to your employer about your pregnancy, know your rights.

Do you have an employee handbook? Whether you’re an employer or an employee, you should know that in New Jersey, this document can change your rights and responsibilities.

A bill pending in the New Jersey legislature would place new restrictions on the use of non-compete agreements between workers and their employers. If enacted into law, Assembly Bill A1769 would establish numerous specific requirements that non-compete agreements must comply with in order to be enforceable within the state.

In recent years, several large companies have laid off thousands of New Jersey workers. Although the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (the “WARN Act”) provides some protection to employees of large companies during layoffs, many states, including New Jersey, have additional rules that supplement or reinforce the federal protections for workers subject to mass layoffs. A bill pending in the New Jersey Senate, however, would continue the state’s push to pioneer groundbreaking worker-friendly policies by extending additional protections to employees terminated in large workforce reductions. 

When an employee brings credible, substantiated accusations of sexual harassment or discrimination in a workplace, their employer often settles discreetly for “an undisclosed sum of money” and an agreement to keep everything confidential. A law passed earlier this year in New Jersey declares that such confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements are against the greater interest of the public and, as such, unenforceable. Not only does the new law restrict settlement agreements, it significantly restricts the rights of employers to require that employees broadly waive rights related to pursuing discrimination, retaliation, or harassment claims that may arise during their employment.