Wrongful Discharge

Defense of Wrongful Discharge Litigation

McLaughlin & Nardi s New Jersey business employment lawyers represent management in defense of lawsuits claiming that an employee was wrongfully discharged. We represent companies in employment matters in federal and state court, arbitration, mediation, and administrative agencies.

Wrongful discharge cases can make many different claims. For instance, we defend employers against claims that they wrongfully fired their employees for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Discrimination, based on any prohibited reason, such as an employee’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or family status.
• Whistleblowing retaliation. We defend employers who have been accused of retaliating against an employee for objecting to or disclosing a practice or policy she believes to be illegal.
• Breach of employment contracts, such as employment contracts or separation agreements.
• Violation of public policy. “Whistleblowing” protections also prohibit retaliating against employees who object to or disclose practices or policies which violate public policy.
• Retaliation for wage, hour and overtime objections. Our employment lawyers defend employers who have been accused of retaliation for an employee’s objection to wage, hour or overtime violations.
• Retaliation for workers compensation claims. Employers may not retaliate against employees who have filed workers compensation claims, and our employment attorneys defend employers which have been accused of doing so.
• Violation of family or medical leave requirements. We defend employers who have been accused of violating employee’s family or medical leave rights.
• Violation of layoff notice provisions. Our law firm represent employers who have been accused of violating the notice provisions required by law prior to instituting layoffs.

Our New Jersey employment attorneys defend companies against claims of discrimination and harassment because of:

• Race, nationality ancestry, and national origin. This includes both minority and non-minority discrimination.
• Gender discrimination. Our employment lawyers defend employers which are accused of gender discrimination, including both acts such as terminations and demotions, and sexual harassment.
• Age. Decisions cannot be made based on an employee’s age. Case law has extended this to include discrimination based on youth (although lack of experience is a good defense to such claims).
• Religion & Creed. We defend employers of claims that they either discriminated against an employee because of her religion, or failed to reasonably accommodate her religious practices.
• Sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. New Jersey has been at the forefront extending strict protections to LGBT employees.
• Pregnancy. New Jersey strictly prohibits discharge based on an employee’s pregnancy.
• Marital status, domestic partnership or civil union status. We defend employers who are sued because they allegedly terminated employees because of who they are or with whom they are in a relationship.
• Mental or physical disability; HIV related illnesses; genetic information, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait. Our employment attorneys defend employers against charges that employers either discharged an employee because of a disability or HIV related illness, or that they failed to reasonably accommodate them so they could work with these conditions.
• Liability for military service. We defend employers against accusations of terminating employees for their military service requirements.

Some of the laws governing wrongful discharge which our New Jersey management defense attorneys defend companies include Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act (New Jersey’s “Whistleblower Law” known as “EPA”), the Federal Family Medical Leave Act, New Jersey’s Family Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act.

Our management employment lawyers handle all aspects of employment litigation. Often the most important part of the defense occurs long before a trial. The discovery process is designed to prevent “trial by surprise,” and allows employers to receive all of the former employee’s purported evidence. Our New Jersey employment attorneys aggressively utilize the discovery process to optimize the employer’s ability to show that the termination was based on legitimate business reasons.

In addition to obtaining discovery from the former employee, we help management plan so that they can prove that it has not wrongfully discharged their employees. We also help it build its case through the documents it must turn over to the former employee – and this is where we also help employers with planning even before litigation. We also make sure that employers are making valid objections and do not turn over documents or information which are covered by a privilege, and where documents and information are turned over that they are governed by confidentiality orders or agreements preventing their disclosure to third-parties.

McLaughlin & Nardi’s New Jersey employment defense attorneys represent management in defense of wrongful discharge suits. E-mail us or call one of our experienced New Jersey labor and employment lawyers at (973) 890-0004 to obtain assistance.