HR Specialist: New Jersey Employment Law

New Jersey’s complicated laws make it extra dicey for employers. Aggressive attorneys don’t stop with federal laws like FMLA, ADA and FLSA: they use state and local living-wage statutes, rural codes, plus discrimination and other laws to sue employers for sky’s-the-limit damages. This New Jersey-specific newsletter arrives monthly to help sue-proof every aspect of HR. Written in plain English, it’s your insurance policy for staying in step with current interpretations of state and local laws – and staying out of court. Learn more about HR Specialist: New Jersey Employment Law and the free report you’ll get when you subscribe...

Employees who take leave under the FMLA or the New Jersey Family Leave Act are entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position.

Recent case: Agnes Theodossiou worked for a bank as an assistant vice president, making $100,000. She took time off to give birth, claiming leave under both the FMLA and the NJFLA.

When she returned, someone else was occupying her desk and she was given clerical tasks to do. Then her old job was eliminated and she was terminated. The bank claimed she would have been terminated even if she hadn’t taken leave.

She sued, alleging she had been denied reinstatement.

The court ordered a trial. It said that even if she returned only for a short time before being terminated, the job she returned to should have been the same or equivalent to her old one. (Theodossiou v. Commerce, No. 06-4137, DC NJ, 2009)