In Bourhill v. Nextel of New York, Inc., 2013 WL 1680140 (D.N.J. Apr. 17, 2013), an employee with a back condition was granted several consecutive leaves of absences (spanning eight months of leave), followed by an open-ended request for “at least two months” of leave. He was discharged following the last request, and filed disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and wrongful discharge claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). Rejecting the plaintiff’s case at summary judgment, the New Jersey District Court held that by the time of the termination, the employer had already taken “significant actions to accommodate Plaintiff.” Moreover, as of the time of the plaintiff’s discharge, it was unclear when, or even if, the plaintiff would recover from his impairments and return to work, and the plaintiff and/or his physician incorrectly predicted an estimated return date on each prior occasion. In sum, “[a]t a certain point, holding a job open for an extensive or indeterminate period of time becomes unreasonable.”
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Who Needs the Aggregation? Ninth Circuit Rejects Combining of PAGA Penalties to Establish Minimum Amount in Controversy
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision in Urbino v. Orkin Services of California, Inc., No. 11-56944 (August 13, 2013) holding that civil penalties available under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) may not be aggregated to establish the minimum amount in controversy of $75,000,…..
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New Jersey Senate Bill Would Bar Employers from Seeking Social Media Information from Applicants and Employees
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