WOLFE LAW OFFICES

EMPLOYMENT LAW

The firm represents individual employees and employers in cases involving The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), Sexual harassment, Hostile work environment, Wrongful termination, Non-compete agreements, Retaliation (CEPA), Employment Contracts, Severance packages and Unemployment Compensation hearings. 
 
Unemployment Compensation: Unemployment insurance provides workers, whose jobs have been terminated, monetary payments for a given period of time or until they find a new job.  Below are some issues our office deals with in representing clients at Unemployment hearings and appeals. 

· Misconduct = If the Department of Labor determines the employee’s conduct rose to this level then the employee is disqualified from unemployment benefits for the first five weeks.  It is defined as behavior, other than gross misconduct, conduct which is improper, connected with the individual's work, malicious, within the individual's control, not a good faith error of judgment or discretion, and is either a deliberate refusal without good cause, to comply with the employer's lawful and reasonable rules made known to the employee or a deliberate disregard of standards of behavior the employer has a reasonable right to expect, including reasonable safety standards and reasonable standards for a workplace free of drug and substance abuse. Misconduct includes: (1) repeated failure, without good cause, to comply with instructions of the employer which are lawful, reasonable, and not requiring the employee to perform services beyond the scope of the employee's customary job duties: (2) falsification of an employment application or other record required by the employer to determine the employee's qualifications or suitability for the job or omitting information which created a material misrepresentation of the employee's qualifications or suitability for the job; (3) tardiness without good cause which is chronic or excessive and repeated after written warnings from the employer; and (4) repeated unauthorized absences without good cause, such as illness or other compelling personal circumstances, or unjustified failure to provide notice prior to the unauthorized absences. An individual's failure to meet standards regarding quality or quantity of work shall not be considered misconduct unless the employer demonstrates to the division that the standards are reasonable and that the individual deliberatively performed below the standards. "Misconduct" does not include advertence or ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or inefficiency or failure to perform as the result of inability or incapacity.

· Gross Misconduct = is defined as criminal conduct of the first, second, third or fourth degree under the New Jersey code of criminal Justice. If the Department of Labor determines the employee’s conduct rose to this level then the employee is not entitled to any unemployment benefits.
 · Voluntary Quit =  If the department of Labor determines the employee voluntarily left work without good cause attributable to work then the employee is disqualified from unemployment benefits. 

Family and Medical Leave Act(FMLA):
FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the following reasons: 
•  For incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care or child birth;
•  To care for the employee’s child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care;
•  To care for the employee’s spouse, son or daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or
•  For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee’s job.  

Employees are eligible if they have worked for a covered employer for at least one year, for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and if at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles. 

During FMLA leave, the employer must maintain the employee’s health coverage under any “group health plan” on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work. Upon return from FMLA leave, most employees must be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms.

​