Blog
- Opinion: U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters Causes Minimal Damage to the Right to Strike, but Makes Garmon Preemption More Challenging
Mar 28, 2024
by Raymond M. Baldino At the end of its last term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a much-anticipated case concerning the right to strike, Glacier Northwest v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, Union Local 174.[1] In the end, the case went out with more of a whimper than a bang, while inserting a confusing addition to Garmon preemption under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The good news for labor practitioners: a majority consisting of Justices Amy...Read More - FIRM PARTNER, COLIN M. LYNCH, ESQ., OBTAINS DISMISSAL OF TENURE CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST NEWARK PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS CITING RETALIATION FOR UNION ACTIVITY BY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
Mar 25, 2024
Mr. Lynch recently obtained two separate, but related arbitration decisions issued pursuant to the TEACHNJ Act, dismissing tenure charges against two tenured teachers of the Newark Public Schools. In dismissing the tenure charges, the two arbitrators concluded that the former Principal of NPS’s Rafael Hernandez School, Natsha Pared, retaliated against the school’s NTU Building Representative, Sanyika Montague, and his colleague and fellow Union member, Jennifer Ferrara, in the conduct of their performance evaluations because their...Read More - Commissioner of Education Finds Teachers are Entitled to Paid Leave Pending a Fitness for Duty Exam
Jan 6, 2022
Firm Partner, Colin M. Lynch, and Associate, Sheila Murugan, obtained a Final Decision from the New Jersey Commissioner of Education on November 18, 2021, which reversed a board of education’s finding that it could place a teacher on an involuntary sick leave pending a fitness for duty evaluation finding her fit to work.in On October 27, 2020, the teacher suffered an alleged physical medical episode in her classroom and emergency medical services was called. The...Read More - NJ Supreme Court Defines Scope of Good Faith Defense to State Wage and Hour Laws for the First Time
Jun 11, 2021
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in January to sharply limit the scope of the good faith exception to the state wage and hour law, which allows an employer to rely on the position of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development as an absolute defense in a private lawsuit. In Elmer Branch v. Cream-O-Land Dairy,1 the Court held that under the plain language of the of act, the provision of New Jersey’s...Read More - United States Supreme Court Holds LGBTQ Rights Protected Under Title VII
Jul 16, 2020
The United States Supreme Court held this month that the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extend to protect against discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation or identity, i.e. those of gay or transgender status. The decision, Bostock v. Clayton County Georgia, will expand the scope of Title VII, which is the federal statute that protects against discrimination in the workplace. Prior to Bostock, some state’s anti-discrimination laws, such...Read More - Third Circuit Develops Doctrine of Union Protected Right of Association under First Amendment
Jun 3, 2020
Courts have long struggled with how to strike the proper balance between protecting employer’s rights and protecting employee free speech. Over time that conflict has generally evolved to narrow the field of protected employee speech. However, two recent Third Circuit decisions, Palardy v. Township of Millburn[1] and Baloga v. Pittston Area School District, et al. [2], have articulated the principle that First Amendment associational claims based on union membership automatically satisfy the “public concern” prong...Read More - New Jersey Supreme Court Issues Decision Impacting Child Abuse and Neglect Investigations in Public
Jun 3, 2020
For anyone who works in a public school, an allegation of child abuse leading to an investigation by the Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) is an occupational hazard. For decades, the law regarding the prevention of child abuse and neglect (N.J.S.A. 9:6-8.10) has provided for a report and investigation of any “reasonable cause” to believe conduct potentially injurious to a child has occurred. Those investigations in a school setting are conducted by the Institutional...Read More - New Jersey Passes Wage Theft Act (WTA)
Sep 5, 2019
On August 6, 2019, New Jersey signed the Wage Theft Act (WTA) into law, which is considered by many to be one of the most – if not the most – comprehensive laws in the United States on the topic. The WTA corresponds with the passage of the State’s new minimum-wage law that increases hourly wages to $15 for most workers by 2024. Part of the intention behind WTA was to discourage employers from failing...Read More - New York Federal District Court Concludes That the Arbitration Act Preempts the State’s Ban on Arbit
Jul 25, 2019
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, New York passed legislation - Section 7515 - which is comprised of six subparts, all addressing sexual harassment. Specifically, Section 7515(b) prohibits contracts that require parties to submit to mandatory arbitration to resolve any allegation or claim of an unlawful discriminatory practice of sexual harassment. This prohibition, of course, applies only in so far as it is consistent with federal law. However, on June 26, 2019, the Southern...Read More - Supreme Court Holds That Requirement That Plaintiffs Bring Title VII Claims Before the EEOC is not J
Jun 7, 2019
Is the requirement that plaintiffs raising claims under Title VII - the Federal anti-discrimination statute – file with the EEOC prior to bringing their claims in federal court “jurisdictional”? In Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that it is not. The law requires that when bringing a claim under Title VII, a plaintiff must first file the change with the EEOC so it can undergo an...Read More