Employment Law Blog

Categories: Harassment

Tis the Season to be Careful, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

December 7, 2018

Company holiday parties are often great for camaraderie and employee morale but are fraught with danger, whether it be harassment, religious discrimination or drinking and driving.

We don’t want to be accused of being the Grinch that stole Christmas. We are all in favor of holiday parties, so long as they are done right. Here are our top ten (10) tips:

  1. Remind employees in advance of the Company's anti-harassment policy;

  2. No mistletoe;

  3. Limit alcohol;

    1. Consider no alcohol or using drink tickets

    2. Designate a member of management to monitor employees

    3. Have rides home available or remind employees to consider Uber/Lyft, etc.

    4. Consider day-time parties

  4. No slow dancing;

  5. No unsupervised speeches or skits;

  6. Avoid religious symbols and religious music;

  7. If during off hours, do not require attendance or there may be exposure to wage and hour claims;

  8. If exchanging gifts, instruct employees as to what is appropriate and no gag-gifts;

  9. When selecting a menu, make sure it is inclusive to accommodate religious needs, i.e. Kosher meals; and

  10. If all else fails, promptly investigate any claims!

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Harassment

Time To Review Your Company's Personnel Policy

November 14, 2018

As the weather gets colder and the days shorter, the end of the year can’t be too far away. Now is a good time to start reviewing your Company’s personnel policies so that your house can be in order to start the new year.

Here are a few questions for your HR team to answer to determine whether you need outside counsel to review your personnel policies and practices:
  1. When was the last time your Employee Manual was reviewed? There have been a number of significant changes in the law that might impact your policies.
  2. Does your Company’s sick leave policy comply with NJ’s paid sick leave law? The new law took effect October 29th.
  3. Has the Company reviewed its pay policies? There were significant changes this year in New Jersey concerning equal pay. In just the past few days Hewlett Packard was hit with a gender pay gap lawsuit.
  4. Do you have a workforce in New York state? If so, has your Company provided them with mandatory sexual harassment prevention training? Has your Company issued a compliant policy? This law became effective October 9th and applies to all employers. It requires annual training. New Jersey also requires training of managers and staff members.
  5. Does your Company require employees to arbitrate disputes? When was the last time your arbitration policy was reviewed? There have been some significant changes in this area. Both Google and Facebook recently announced that they will not require employees to arbitrate sexual harassment claims.
  6. Does your Company require releases when severance is paid? Do the agreements require confidentiality? If so, it might interfere with the Company being able to deduct the severance payments as a business expense.
The Labor & Employment Law Group at the Firm is available to answer any questions you may have or help bring your Company into compliance.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Employee Benefits

NJ Paid Sick Leave Policy

October 9, 2018

Every employer in New Jersey, regardless of size, needs a written Paid Sick Leave policy in place and distributed to employees no later than October 29, 2018. Please contact us if you need assistance drafting this policy or updating your other personnel policies.

Whether as stand-alone policies or those accumulated in an employee manual, the following are the types of policies which must, or at the very least should, be in writing in NJ:

  1. Paid Sick Leave policy;
  2. Anti-harassment policy;
  3. Equal Employment Opportunity policy (recommended);
  4. Vacation policy;
  5. Equal Pay Act policy;
  6. Whistleblower (CEPA) policy;
  7. Family and Medical Leave Act/NJ Family Leave Act policy (for employers with at least 50 employees);
  8. Confidentiality, Non-Solicitation and Non-Compete policy; and Arbitration policy.
Now is a great time to update your company’s policies so that they can be rolled out to your employees in 2019.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Paid Sick Leave

New York's #MeToo Moment

September 5, 2018

In what may seem to some a matter of political expediency, and to others a long-overdue effort to eradicate workplace sexual harassment, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appear to be competing for the “#MeToo Movement Championship.” Whatever their motivations, they have signed into law sweeping legislation that affects all New York employers.

Click here to read more.

Attorney: Lauren Topelsohn
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Harassment

Secretly Recording Work Chats: Not Cut and Dried

August 31, 2018

Billy Joel wrote in his song “Shades of Grey” that what was “perfectly clear with the vision of youth” is not quite so clear anymore. “Black and white is how it should be, but shades of grey are the colors I see.” This holds true with regard to secretly tape recording at work, too.

In the past, employment lawyers told employers they should strictly prohibit employees from secretly recording anything at work. There were a number of reasons for this advice. First and foremost, audio or video recording could result in the misappropriation of an employer’s trade secrets. In fact, for trade secret protection, a company must show that it took reasonable steps to protect that information and, therefore, a written policy is important. Second, fear among supervisors that they are being surreptitiously recorded could lead them to mistrust certain employees, which is not conducive to a healthy work environment.

But times have changed somewhat. From the #MeToo movement, we now know that harassment and even sexual assault have been rampant in certain industries. If employees are allowed to secretly record at work, would the likelihood of harassment be reduced? It could, but probably not. However, it would make it easier to prosecute such a claim against the harasser — and also the employer. This is why the harassment claims of Gretchen Carlson against Roger Ailes supposedly settled so quickly. It also is why we were able to recover millions of dollars to resolve whistleblower claims of a senior executive against the CEO of a major brokerage firm. This type of proof is powerful, because harassment cases often are “he said-she said” situations with no other witnesses. Juries also often expect to hear this type of evidence because they know how easy it is to obtain.

Recordings also allow employees to fend off false accusations by others at work. Recent examples include Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House communications director, who allegedly has audio and video recordings of President Donald Trump, and attorney Michael Cohen, who secretly tape recorded discussions he had with his client, Trump. On rare occasions, secretly taping at work can also be harmful to an employee’s case. Years ago, we defended a Berkshire Hathaway company in a gender discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit involving an employee who had about 10 hours of recordings. The people recorded said nothing inappropriate and we were able to make good use of the plaintiff’s numerous admissions on those tapes to tear apart her case.

The National Labor Relations Board also has held that blanketly denying employees, whether unionized or not, the right to secretly tape record could violate their right to engage in concerted activity regarding their conditions of employment. The NLRB held that photographs and recordings, as well as the posting them on social media, are protected by Sec. 7 of the National Labor Relations Act if “employees are acting in concert for their mutual aid and protection and no overriding employer interest is present.” For example, employees should be allowed to document unsafe equipment or hazardous working conditions. As a result, employers should have their policies reviewed to make sure they explain the business justification for the restrictions on recordings and to confirm that they don’t ban all recordings.

Regardless of a company’s prohibition against recordings, recording no doubt still will take place, considering how easy it is to do these days from anyone’s phone. For this reason, in all harassment and discrimination litigation, it is important to inquire about the existence of this evidence. Keep in mind that improperly obtained evidence, such as a secret recording in a state that requires both parties’ consent, or a recording in violation of an employer’s policy, still can be admissible in a civil case. Unlike criminal cases, where an improper search and seizure by the government may lead to the discovery of other evidence that will be suppressed at trial based upon the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine, that doctrine is inapplicable in civil cases in New Jersey. In other words, secretly recorded conversations are admissible at a civil trial even if improperly obtained.

Weighing all the pros and cons, it is still best for employers generally to preclude covert tape recording, but the policy should be tailored to the specific client especially where employers have valuable trade secrets. Employers should combat harassment using other tools, including anti-harassment training and strong policies.

In the past, black and white were easy to see, but now drafters of employee handbooks and policies need to also see various shades of grey.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment

It Is Time To Take Your Company's Temperature Concerning HR Compliance

May 29, 2018

How healthy is your Company? Does it comply with all of its obligations under ever-expanding employment laws? Considering all of the recent developments in New Jersey and New York employment law, now is an appropriate time to take your Company’s temperature.

If your Company has an employee manual, now is the time to update it especially considering that New Jersey and New York recently passed legislation dealing with paid sick leave which may impact your current sick leave policy.

As a result of the #Metoo movement, and as reported recently in this blog, there have been significant changes concerning having employees sign settlement agreements in sexual harassment cases or separation agreements containing non-disclosure/confidentiality provisions waiving these claims. Both New York and federal law have changed in this regard. It is, therefore, important to review any form releases your Company uses when terminating employees.

As also reported previously in this blog, the law also has changed concerning equal pay. In New Jersey, it will not only apply to women who are paid less than men but also all other protected classes in the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. It is, therefore, important to take your Company’s temperature with regard to employee pay.

Lastly, based upon an executive order recently signed by Governor Murphy organizing a task force to review the issue of misclassification of workers, we expect a crackdown on employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors. Now is the time to review those relationships as well.

In summary, having experienced legal counsel help in taking your Company’s temperature now will enable your Company to avoid costly litigation not too far down the road.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Employee Benefits

Notorious R.B.G. and Gender Equality

May 26, 2018

Today we are not blogging about a recent development in employment law.  Instead, we wish to call attention to an entertaining source to help non-lawyers understand how we arrived at the current state of the law concerning gender equality.

A must-see movie, regardless of your political persuasion, is the documentary R.B.G. which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.  The movie starts off with a bang when the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes abolitionist and women’s suffragist Sarah Grimke’, stating that she asks “…no favor for my sex.  All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

Ginsburg, the diminutive dynamo, was one of only nine women in a class of 500 at Harvard Law School and the first woman on the Harvard Law Review.  She accomplished this feat while caring for her ill husband and young child.  Ginsburg did for gender discrimination in the 1970’s what Thurgood Marshall accomplished for blacks during the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. 

The movie chronicles Ginsburg’s quest for equal protection for women, including the six cases she argued before the Supreme Court (five of which she won), including United States v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court held that qualified women could not be denied admission to the all male Virginia Military Institute.  Ginsburg also trumpeted male gender equality by successfully arguing in Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636 (1975) that widowed fathers were entitled to the same benefits under the Social Security Act as widowed mothers.  More recently, Ginsburg has been a dissenter to many decisions rendered by our conservative Supreme Court, including in the Lilly Ledbetter equal pay case.  While the Supreme Court denied Ledbetter relief, Ginsburg’s dissent resulted in Congress creating new law effectively overruling the Supreme Court’s majority decision and making it easier for women to sue for previously unknown disparate pay.

The #MeToo movement has resulted in the media refocusing on gender discrimination and harassment. The R.B.G. documentary does an excellent job of explaining how we arrived at the current state of the law and Ginsburg’s role in shaping gender equality.  

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment

New York's Six New Sexual Harassment Prevention Laws

May 9, 2018

On April 12, 2018, Governor Cuomo signed New York’s latest budget that includes six laws reflecting the concerns of the Metoo# movement that employers need to know. 

Effective immediately: 

  • Businesses Must Protect Non-Employees from Sexual Harassment.  The law expands the sexual harassment protections under New York’s Human Rights Law to non-employees (independent contractors, vendors, and their employee) who perform services at an employer’s work place. 
  • Settlement/Judgment Involving Government Employees. Government officials and employees may not use public funds to resolve sexual harassment claims, and must reimburse any State or local agency that pays a judgment entered against a government as a result of the offending official or employee’s conduct. 

Effective July 11, 2018: 

  • Restrictions on Non-Disclosure Provisions for Sexual Harassment Claims. Use of such confidentiality clauses are enforceable only if: (1) they conform with the complainant’s preference; and (2) as with a release under Older Workers Benefit Act (OWBPA), the complainant has 21 days to review the agreement (which cannot be shortened), followed by a seven day revocation period. This law impacts all “General Releases” of employment claims that include a confidentiality provisions by requiring that such release “carve out” sexual harassment from the release of any claim under the New York Human Rights Law.
  • Mandatory arbitration, no more? New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules, Article 75 will be amended to prohibit agreements that require the arbitration of disputes relating to sexual harassment, except “where inconsistent with federal law.” S7507-C, Part KK, Subpart B.  Since Federal law encourages arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq., this provision may be pre-empted until (and unless) the United States Congress passes a corresponding prohibition. 

Effective October 9, 2018:
Mandatory Sexual Harassment Policy, Prevention Training and Complaint Procedure.  The New York State Department of Labor and Division of Human Rights are required to develop and publish a model sexual harassment prevention policy and a model sexual harassment prevention training program for use by employers.  All New York employers are required (a) to adopt the model policy and training program or, establish their own that equals or exceeds the minimum standards of the model policy and program; and (b) distribute the written policy and provide sexual harassment training to all employees at least annually.

  • The model sexual harassment prevention policy will:
    • Prohibit sexual harassment
    • Explain what sexual harassment is and provide examples 
    • State that sexual harassment constitutes employee misconduct 
    • Advise what remedies are available under federal, state and local law for victims of sexual harassment, and the available forums (administrative and judicial) for adjudicating such complaints
    • Include a model complaint form and standard investigative procedure;  and
    • Prohibit retaliation for making a sexual harassment complaint, or for testifying or assisting in any proceeding relating to such a claim
  • The model sexual prevention training will explain:
    • What sexual harassment is and provide examples 
    • Additional responsibilities of supervisors
    • Employee’s rights under State and federal laws governing sexual harassment, and available remedies and forums for adjudicating such complaints 

Effective January 1, 2019:
Government Contractors.  As part of the bidding process for State contracts, bids must include a statement certifying that the bidding entity has implemented a written policy addressing sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual harassment training to all of its employees. With respect to no-bid projects, the State has the discretion to request such certification. 

 

Attorney: Lauren Topelsohn
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Harassment

Confidential Sexual Harassment Settlements No Longer Tax Deductible

April 22, 2018

The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) has had a tremendous impact on the settlement of sexual harassment cases. Section 13307 of the Act, found here, does away with a tax deduction for the settlement amount paid in a sexual harassment case if the settlement is confidential.  This new provision also precludes a tax deduction for attorneys’ fees if there is a requirement of confidentiality.  It seems that this also applies to a plaintiff’s own legal fees.  This tax change adds new variables to settling sexual harassment claims.  In the past, employers always insisted on confidentiality.  Time will tell whether this changes and whether this provision of the tax law will cause the amount paid to settle these claims to increase.  Plaintiffs will want more money for these claims in order to pay the extra tax liability while employers will want to pay less since they would no longer be able to deduct the settlement amount and their legal fees.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment
Category: Harassment

Stormy Daniels' gag order explained. Is it fair?

March 21, 2018

The #MeToo and Time's Up movements rekindled the nation's collective awareness concerning sexual harassment and abuse which had all but disappeared since the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991.

What contributed to this lack of discourse concerning the prevalence of sexual harassment in our society over the past 25 years? The use of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements surely played a part -- as have mandatory arbitration agreements required by employers.

NDAs and confidentiality clauses are standard fare when parties settle sexual harassment and abuse cases.

In exchange for a settlement payment -- such as the $130,000 payment made on President Trump's behalf to Stormy Daniels -- the victim of harassment agrees not to discuss the claims made, or the terms, and sometimes even the existence, of the settlement.

These agreements usually also call for significant financial penalties should the plaintiff violate the confidentiality clause. For example, in the agreement at issue in the Trump-Daniels lawsuit, Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is required to pay the president $1 million for each of her breaches of the confidentiality clause. Trump's lawyer claims she has violated the terms 20 times.

Is this agreement enforceable?

Probably not because the $1 million liquidated damage amount for each breach appears to be an unenforceable penalty rather than an estimation of likely damages should confidentiality be breached. For the same reason, it also isn't fair and most plaintiffs' attorneys would never allow a client to sign such a provision (unless their client is desperate for the money or the attorney believes the clause is unenforceable).

So far, however, this confidentiality clause has kept Daniels relatively quiet. Had there been no such provision, or if the court in the pending litigation refuses to uphold it, she undoubtedly will "tell all" of the sordid details in a book deal, which is likely to follow -- and, regardless, she may possibly do so on "60 Minutes" this weekend.

Meanwhile, as the porn star touted passing a polygraph test to prove she's not lying about her 2006-2007 tryst with Trump, another woman is suing to get out from under a 2016 confidentiality agreement so she can discuss her alleged affair with Trump. This week former Playboy Playmate of the Year, Karen McDougal, has filed suit in Los Angeles.

Confidentiality clauses serve useful purposes.

They protect the reputation of the alleged harasser when frivolous claims are brought. They also protect the plaintiff who does not want it known that she was subjected to sexual abuse or that she sued her employer. Finally, confidentiality clauses make it easier to settle cases because they protect the good will of the employer.

In fact, companies will pay more to a victim of harassment as hush money to avoid the impact of these types of allegations on their bottom-lines. Bad publicity from these cases can be devastating, as Harvey Weinstein's now bankrupt company recently learned.

On the other hand, as seen lately, confidentiality clauses enable harassers to continue their pattern of abuse and expose other unsuspecting victims to this same treatment. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of these provisions, the time has come to limit the use of these "gag-orders" and Congress agrees.

Buried deep inside the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a provision which disallows tax deductions for monies employers pay to harassment victims and for legal fees if the parties enter into a confidentiality agreement. In essence, since late December parties must choose between deductibility and confidentiality.

For now this seems to be a fair middle ground. It enables companies to protect themselves and alleged harassers against frivolous claims by insisting upon confidentiality while at the same time also providing victims with some leverage to insist upon no confidentiality.

Lawyers of course will find some work-arounds, whether through stronger clauses confirming that the settlement is not an admission of liability or requiring the victim to confirm in an agreement -- whether or not it is true -- that there simply was no harassment. The settlement value of harassment cases also might go down somewhat to make up for a company's loss of the tax deduction when it is insisting upon confidentiality.

Only time will tell whether this law goes far enough to expose harassers and deter their behavior in the first place.

Attorney: Steven Adler
Related Practice: Labor and Employment