Wage and Hour Violations

First known court decision in New Jersey upholding a whistleblower claim against an employer involving Covid-19

Florham Park, N.J.— A senior executive at an apparel company lost his job in March after he insisted that the business alert employees of a worker diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Employees who earn tips often have different sets of rights than employees who get an annual salary or hourly wages. The rights of tipped employees can be complicated and, unfortunately, are often violated by employers.

Forced arbitration is a tactic that employers use to suppress their employees' rights to sue them. The Supreme Court has found that companies can force workers to give up their right to file a class-action suit and require employees to arbitrate any disputes individually. Workers who don't comply can be fired.

In the first of Green Savits' answers to Frequently Asked Questions, we address whether employers can force employees to work overtime.

Employees who contact us often complain that their employer is forcing them to work long hours and ask whether mandatory overtime is legal. The answer is, generally, yes. In New Jersey, employees are considered “at-will,” which means that your employer can require you to work more than 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day and terminate you if you refuse to do so unless:

            Most people are aware of today’s fight over the minimum wage.  Although the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for many years now, Congress will not allow an increase.  Because of this, President Obama took executive action to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 per hour.  States have taken it upon themselves to raise the minimum wage.  New Jersey voted in 2014 to raise its minimum wage to $8.25 per hour and indexed it to inflation which is why it now stands at $8.38.  I think that most people would agree that $7.25 or $8.38 or even $10.10

This past Sunday, as I watched the Dallas Cowboys gain momentum and come back against the Detroit Lions, I was more than distracted by what I recently learned about how the NFL teams treat their cheerleaders. These women cheer for their team during games, practice for hours in the days leading up to games, attend public appearances, and maintain their bodies in incredible, physical shape. However, despite their significant value to the team they cheer for, the amount they are paid for their talent is often pathetic, bordering on abusive.