Upcoming Webinar: “Employee Leaves of Absence Update-Answers To The Most Frequently Asked Questions”
On Wednesday, June 21, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Lauren E. Tedesco, Esq. will be presenting a webinar sponsored by The Institute for Professional Development entitled, “Employee Leaves of Absence Update-Answers To The Most Frequently Asked Questions.” This follow-up to the March 29, 2023 Webinar entitled “Employee Leaves of Absences: What Public Employers Need To Know” will answer attendees questions and discuss employee leaves of absences in further detail. For additional information and registration, please click here.
No Denial of Access Under OPRA Where Request Submitted to Incorrect Entity
On April 20, 2023 the New Jersey Appellate Division decided an Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) matter in the case of Owoh v. City of Camden, 2023 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 597 (App. Div. Apr. 20, 2023). The Appellate Division determined the City of Camden (“City”) did not deny access to requested police records and the City was not obligated to retrieve the records from the County of Camden (“County”) a separate public entity. The firm successfully represented the City on appeal. Plaintiff-Respondents, Rotimi Owoh, o/b/o African American Data and Research Institute, and Baffi Simmons (“Owoh”) filed an OPRA request […]
Vacations on FMLA?
Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. Below is an article written by my colleague, Ralph R. Smith, Esq., Co-Chair of our firm’s Labor & Employment Group. If you wish to view additional articles and/or be kept up-to-date with labor & employment issues, visit our HR Resource blog by clicking here. It seems like every day, I get some very unique questions in my practice. This one was a doozy. A client calls and tells me that an employee who is out of work on a medical leave of absence is posting pictures of herself on Facebook while on a wonderful vacation in the […]
Upcoming Webinar: “Employee Leaves of Absence-What Public Employers Need to Know”
On Wednesday, March 29, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Lauren E. Tedesco, Esq. and Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq., will be presenting a webinar sponsored by The Institute for Professional Development entitled, “Employee Leaves of Absence-What Public Employers Need to Know”. This webinar will familiarize public employers on how to properly administer the laws relating to the various types of employee leaves of absences including the Family Medical Leave Act, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and more. For additional information and registration, please click here.
Upcoming Webinar: “The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Act-What Public Employers Need To Know”
On Wednesday, December 7, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. and Lauren E. Tedesco, Esq. will be presenting a webinar sponsored by The Institute for Professional Development entitled, “The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Act-What Public Employers Need To Know.” Ms. Dev and Ms. Tedesco will be speaking about The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Act. The topics include background on the Act and what the leave can be used for. For additional information and registration, please click here.
Bid for Public Contract Deemed Compliant When Post Office Box Address of Owners of Bidder Given As Opposed to Home Address
In a published decision of the Appellate Division in Asphalt Paving Sys. v. Borough of Stone Harbor, 2022 N.J. Super. LEXIS 136 (App. Div. Nov. 14, 2022), the Court was asked to decide whether a bidder to a public contract, to be issued by Borough of Stone Harbor, submitted a statutorily compliant bid by listing its shareholders’ post office box, instead of a home address. The Court had to address whether N.J.S.A. 52:25-24.2, which required that no business entity may be awarded a public contract unless it submits with its bid “a statement setting forth the names and addresses of […]
Appellate Division Defines Arbitrator’s Authority Regarding Tenure Charges
By: Erika Vasant, Law Clerk Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. On August 25, 2022, in Sanjuan v. School District of West New York, the New Jersey Appellate Division in a published decision addressed the scope of an arbitrator’s authority under N.J.S.A. 18A:6-16 regarding tenure charges against a teacher. The Appellate Division held that an arbitrator may uphold a suspension without pay if a teaching staff member’s conduct was unbecoming. However, arbitrators lack the authority to demote teaching staff members from their positions. In this case, the West New York Board of Education (“Board”) demoted plaintiff Sanjuan from assistant principal to […]
Students’ Initials Can Be Redacted in Response to an OPRA Request
By: Angela Reading, Law Clerk Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. On September 29, 2022, the New Jersey Appellate Division in L.R. o/b/o J.R. v. Cherry Hill Board of Education issued a published decision affirming a ruling by the Superior Court of New Jersey, which held that a district could redact all parent and student information, including initials, when providing settlement agreements in response to an Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request. In this case, the plaintiff, the mother of a student with a disability, made an OPRA request to the defendant Cherry Hill Board of Education (“Board”) for all settlement […]
Third Circuit Holds Districts May Use RTI to Determine SLD Eligibility
By: Angela Reading, Law Clerk Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) and New Jersey law allow school districts to use two methods to determine specific learning disability (“SLD”) of a student who may qualify for special education: the severe-discrepancy approach and the response-to-intervention approach (“RTI”). The severe-discrepancy method examines whether there is a severe discrepancy between the student’s current achievement and intellectual ability in one or more areas of academic aptitude. N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.5(c)(12)(i). The RTI method applies intensive and individualized instruction and evaluates the child’s progress in response to that intervention. 20 U.S.C. § […]
School District Counsel Not Considered a Custodian Under OPRA
By: Angela Reading, Law Clerk.Editor: Sanmathi (Sanu) Dev, Esq. On June 21, 2022, the New Jersey Appellate Division in S.W. v. Elizabeth Board of Education confirmed in an unpublished opinion that a request made under the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) to an attorney for a public entity is invalid. The Appellate Division held that OPRA explicitly requires a request for access to a government record to be “to the appropriate custodian,” and counsel for a board of education is not a custodian within the meaning of OPRA under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g). This case arose from a special education due process […]
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