In Mandall v. Brd. of Review, Dept. of Labor, 2012 WL 414562 (App. Div. Feb. 10, 2012), the Appellate Division affirmed that an employee who is unable able to work because of incarceration is not eligible to receive unemployment benefits. The standard for disqualification of unemployment benefits in New Jersey is whether the employee leaves “voluntarily without good cause attributable to such work.” While the employee’s incarceration was not voluntary, the court explained that her inability to report to work was not related to her employment and, thus, she was disqualified. The court further held that, despite receiving the benefits in good faith, the employee was obligated to repay them.
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Several New Worker’s Compensation Provisions Favorable to Wisconsin Employers
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law several new employer-friendly 2016 amendments to the state’s Worker’s Compensation Act. In addition to cutting the statute of limitations for traumatic injury claims in half, from 12 years to 6, the amendments also deny benefits to employees under three new provisions added to the law.
California Appellate Court Permits Use of Statistical Sampling to Prove Class Certification
Statistical sampling has always been an effective and efficient way for plaintiffs to establish class action liability in California. After some hope that a 2011 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States might hamper that ability, a California appellate court has reaffirmed statistical sampling as a viable method available to class action plaintiffs to prove their cases.
NLRB Continues Trend to Protect Employer Property Rights
Coming on the heels of its decision in Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation d/b/a Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 368 NLRB No. 46 (2019) in which the Board rebalanced the rights of property owners versus Section 7 rights of employees during a labor dispute, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued another pro-employer decision.