Employment Legal Questions

The employer can sue you and can also request an injunction so that you cannot work for the new employer until the matter is resolved. The threat of these two actions oftentimes has a chilling effect upon the new employment. We normally negotiate a settlement to avoid these issues. It is economic in nature. Please call to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 extension 235... Read Answer

Depending on the context employers may ask for information about that the health or medical history of an employee. In general, if the request is reasonable and is based on the particularities of the position of the employee to assure security (for instance considering the covid19 current crisis) there is nothing illegal in asking for information about the health of the employee. ... Read Answer

Did the EEOC mail you a Notice of Right to Sue letter? If so, you have no more than 90 days to file a lawsuit. 90 days will fly by. Call and speak to many employment lawyers immediately. If you fail to file a complaint within the 90-day period, that will mean that you waived good-bye to your right to do so. Almost no excuse overcomes missing the filing deadline. Essentially no one can help you then.  ... Read Answer

The 'workers' demand for unemployment compensation may raise additioinal issues with regard to the status of their employmenrt. We have had a similar sutuation where the 'home care providers' were working 'off the books' and we had to work with the state authorities to correct the situation and minimze the impact upon our clients. We were successful. Please call immediately to dfiscuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read Answer

You are in a difficult position. The employer is requiring that you make the chioce between the new position at a greater distance from your home or signing the severance. You have to decide what you want to do. If you take the employment, the severance issue is moot. Hoever, if you take the severance, we may be able to help you obtain a greater number and also insure that there are no improper restrictions. Please call. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read Answer

Can you win relief for this discharge? While no attorney can read the future and ethical rules require that we not gurantee any certain outcome, I can outline briefly what questions we might ask you to get started: (1) What specific agency, role, and committees? (2) Relatedly, what were your applicable employment/performance/separation policies, and what language was contained in any/all employment contract(s), performance reviews, and separation documentation? (3) Who has come forward to corroborate your story; or who has come forward to corroborate their story?    So, get started by gathering these documents, and make a quick list of dates and events. Why? For any attorney, this will be key to effectively reviewing your case and, if relief may be possible, to efficiently representing your concerns. Best wishes, and be sure to begin applying for new employment opportunities for peace of mind, income security, and to ensure that you can demonstrate in any legal action that you affirmatively had sought to mitigate any losses suffered. ... Read Answer

If you comply with the requirements of the DOL to receive benefits or unemployment support, the fact that you opened an LLC does not make you automatically ineligible. However, if you are doing business through the LLC and getting income, you may not be eligible anymore. It is uncertain if the DOL will know about your LLC, but once you complete your taxes your information will be accessible by different entities. ... Read Answer

Maybe. The facts leading up to your inpatient treatment are important. If you voluntarily checked yourself in before you did something which would have justified your termination is much different than your employer giving you a chance to check yourself in after it discovered that you abused drugs or alcohol which abuse was affecting your job performance. Two very different scenarios. The law is not that persons who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are entitled to one "keep your job even if you are still addicted to drugs or alcohol". To be protected by laws you have to no longer abuse drugs or alcohol which means no longer being addicted. The recovery process is lifelong and if you do not remain recovering there is no protection.  So how you would up in a treatment program is critical. If your employer forced you into the program which no employer can do then no employer would have been obligated to keep you on its payroll either. The ADAAA protects employees who are recovering, meaning that they no longer abuse drugs or alcohol or entered programs of their own choice before anything adverse or potentially adverse happened at work. If your employer was the one which "forced" you into treatment then it did not have to keep your job open either but apparently decided to do so for other reasons. As long as you know that your employment is "at will" unless you have a union or private contract, then you probably know that no reason is a good reason to let you go. Most employees need no reason to lose their jobs. Perfectly able and competent employees lose jobs every day for no reason at all. And that is not illegal. So you have to be the one to decide whether to comply with any requests of your employer if you are like most, "at will" employed. It does not sound like you are in denial. You acknowledge your issue. Recovery is lifelong for most. Maybe the employer knows best since it has observed you, sees good qualities, but might not give you any more chances after this? Maybe it really wants to help you? Maybe you really want to keep this job? It's a free country. Employers fire employees every day with no notice and no reason. And employees quit their jobs every day with no notice and no reason. You are the only one who knows whether now is the time to move on.... Read Answer

If a non-exempt employee is performing work and the employer knows or should know if it, the employer must pay the overtime.  If the work is against company policy, the employer can discipline the employee.   But if someone is doing the work of a ceo, is this person an exempt employee under the admin exemption?  Perhaps.  But if a mail clerk or secretary is going the work of the CEO for a week, that employee should still be eligible to be paid their overtime wages.  Sometimes work has to be done, so employees do their job and put in extra hours for the benefit of the company or the person's own position.  If the employee was exempt or in an exempt position, then working overtime would of course not entitle the person to premium pay.  If the employee was an hourly paid employee, even if not premium pay, still the employee worked hours and should be paid for the hours.  If there's an express written policy that says all overtime work is prohibited, again, if an employee violates that provision, the company better disclipline the employee, still pay the time though.  Cannot reap the benefit of the employee's time and act like it was just free to the company.  But denying the pay, and subjecting yourself to liquidated damages, which you may now owe anyway, is not a good business decision.  The FLSA will require you to pay overtime on the next paycheck or payperiod, or liquidated damages are owed.  Again, if an exempt employee, then there's no entitlement under the FLSA.  If there's some employment agreement, that employee may have a contract that says he or she is paid $30 per hour for all hours, that employee may have a claim for breach of contract if they worked and did not get paid for all the hours.  Any further questions, since you are a company it seems like, then you should 100% consult an employment lawyer or law firm as soon as possible.  I suggest you review all your pay practices to determine if employee or more employees past and present are owed compensation for overtime hours worked.  ... Read Answer

New York unemployment insurance in April of 2020? It is necessary to conduct a job search in order to receive unemployment benefits. Furlough has no particular legal meaning. An employer might take you back or it might not. Anyone who is placed on furlough should assume that they may never go back. Therefore, searching for alternate employment is always the best idea effective the day after anyone goes on "furlough". Even if you believed that you were discriminated against, you would have an affirmative duty to mitigate your damages. That would mean that from April of last year you would have been looking for other work. Remember, that you only have 1 year from the date of an adverse employment action to file a claim for discrimination. Your facts do not reference any type of discrimination. But were there discrimination, you should assume that the last day you worked, April of last year, was your adverse employment action date. That means the date you were terminated. So, if you had a plausible theory that your employer's actions related to your career, were motivated by some discriminatory animus, having seen nothing of the sort in your facts, your latest or Statute of Limitations date for filing a discrimination complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights is probably some date in April. Your last day of work for this employer. Best suggestions. Look for work immediately since it appears that you may not be returning to this employer.  And, if there was discriminatory animus, or if your termination was motivated by your belonging to one or more protected classes of employees (for example, they thought you were too old, or too sick, or too religious, or the wrong race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected classes of employees to which you may belong?) you probably only have 1 year from your last day of work in April (whatever that date was minus a day or 2) to file a formal complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Unless you are owed unpaid wages, filing in State Supreme Court, without exhausting the administragtive remedies courtesy of our State Division of Human Rights, would not be my choice. Good luck.... Read Answer

For the best suggestions contact a debtor and creditor lawyer or one who handles collections. Those legal professionals can assist you regarding the payment or collection of debts. Everything begins with the agreement or the contract. If written, the entire document needs to be reviewed. If verbal, the specific details regarding the agreement in light of New York's Labor Laws must be considered. Deductions from paychecks are limited to certain types of expenses. Contracts unrelated to work duties and responsibilities are separate.... Read Answer

Don't be so sure that physical injury damages are non-taxable. It's not that simple. Speak with a tax lawyer or a certified public accountant about your specific facts and how much money was spent on medical expenses directly related to the claim before deciding. Unless one of these tax experts confirms that a portion is non-taxable assume that all of it is taxable. Most employment law settlement proceeds are taxable. It's rare for it not to be.... Read Answer

Unions negotiate contracts on behalf of all of their members. Unions must follow the language they negotiate on behalf of their members. Union agreements or contracts are called collective bargaining agreements. They are enforceable contracts. The primary difference between a collective agreement and a private employment agreement is that the former covers many employees as opposed to a single worker with an employment contract. Union contracts or agreements are overseen by the National Labor Relations Board for private unions. If your union is not following the terms of its agreement or engaging in some type of unfair labor practice you may reach out to the NLRB here: Frequently Asked Questions - NLRB | National Labor Relations Board You are not the only union employee experiencing issues at the present time. You should receive more attention now that the administration in D.C. has changed. Although you may have to exercise patience as the new administration will likely re-align the Board. You may want to point out that you were essentially working at minimum wage rates with this union which seems a little odd. Hopefully your benefits package is very generous otherwise, why have a union at all?... Read Answer

Were you covered by a collective bargaining agreement? If so, what does that agreement say, in writing, about pay increases and entitlement to members of your union? If not, were you promised an increase in writing? If so, what were the terms of the agreement and why did you decide to leave? Did your supervisor tell you about the pay increase in an effort to entice you to stay? And you left anyway? It's hard to say for sure but you have to answer the question regarding why you left? Was it because the pay raise was not enough? Unless the above cover you what argument would you have that you should receive an increase if it was only finally approved after you left?... Read Answer

It looks like you were a valued employee. Did you receive retirement benefits, pension, 401K, ERISA covered compensation? If so, were you provided with an SPD, Summary Plan Description?  You might have a claim. You should retain an employment lawyer to review your entire agreement, benefits, SPD, employee handbook, etc... A number of years ago I helped a client with severance after an employer claimed that service was not continuous. There were other facts in that scenario but we were able to successfully get the employee very close to the maximum amount of severance. Severance agreements should always be reviewed by legal counsel. And most of us do that for flat or fixed fees depending on what the goal of the review is. It looks like that might help you. Call some employment lawyers before you sign anything. You should be given ample time to do so by law.... Read Answer

I believe your best bet to address this is to call the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA").  That agency is tasked with ensuring that you work in a safe and healthy workplace.  If you are retaliated against for doing so, OSHA provides for a cause of action against your employer for retaliation.  OSHA's tel. Number is - 800-321-6742. ... Read Answer

These are fact sensitive cases and the key to success is proving what happened and the intent to harm you. Was this the employer's computer ? Was the email work related ? Who maintains the program ? By way of example, our law firm owns the computer and program and controls all the activities with regard to the computer. This is allowed by the law. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600... Read Answer

An offer letter is not a contract. Do you have a term contract? Employment for some period of time? Is the car requirement mentioned in the offer letter? Or in other correspondence? Are they reimbursing expenses for the car or did they have any input regarding car financing, etc...? You should discuss this with some employment lawyers. If you keep working you accept their revised salary probably. If you quit you may or may not receive unemployment benefits. Call some employment lawyers.... Read Answer