Representative Clients

Representative Employment and Labor Clients and Cases

The Lum Firm has a rich history of representing management in employment and labor related issues. We have clients located in throughout New Jersey and New York. Our clients and cases have included:

Traditional Labor Law
The Employment and Labor Group handles legal issues related to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) including:

  • Proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
  • Representing companies in union elections
  • Handling of collective bargaining negotiations
  • Grievance and arbitration matters with the New Jersey State Board of Mediation
  • FMCS
  • AAA
  • Litigation under the Anti-Injunction and Taft Hartley acts
  • Handling of picketing and strike situations
  • Contract interpretation matters

The group also negotiates and administers collective bargaining agreements in the following industries:

  • Compressed Gas Manufacturing and Distribution
  • Dry Ice
  • Tool and Die
  • Car Processing/Longshoremen Operations
  • Marine Operations
  • Rail Operations
  • Sheet Metal
  • Food Warehousing
  • Trucking Operations
  • Building Maintenance/Co-Op Associations
  • Kitchen Contractors
  • Manufacturing, Construction
  • Nursing Homes
  • Administrative/Clerical Staff

Our Employment and Labor Group has also negotiated Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) on various construction sites, including the Meadowlands landfill encapsulation, and has also been involved in labor and employment issues concerning the sale and acquisition of businesses/assets, including WARN issues, shutdown agreements, jurisdictional disputes, subcontracting situations, ERISA issues, voluntary retirement programs, and RIFS.


Litigation
Our Employment and Labor Group has litigated and defended management in New Jersey since the mid-1970s. We have successfully litigated a wide range of labor and employment law cases including:

  • Civil rights cases involving sexual harassment, age, race, religion, national origin, pregnancy, marital status, hostile work environment, and disability/handicap discrimination in the state and federal courts.
  • New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act.
  • Wage and hour overtime actions, including representing two counties in extensive K-9 department litigation.
  • Complex restrictive covenant and duty of loyalty issues.

The Employment and Labor Group’s extensive litigation practice is recognized for results in mediations, settlements, motions and appellate practice. Recently reported state Supreme Court decisions and other cases include:

  • Gaines v. Bellino, 173 N.J. 301 (2002) (sexual harassment, hostile work environment and workplace policy).
  • Rawitz v. County of Essex, 172 N.J. 357 (2002) (public employment, breach of contract).
  • Department of Labor v. Pepsi-Cola Co., 170 N.J. 59 (2001) (right of the NJ Department of Labor to require pre-judgment interest on wage and hour determination).
  • LePore v National Tool, 115 N.J. 226 (1989), cert. denied 493 U.S. 954 (1989) (whistleblower, NLRA preemption).
  • Baliko v Stecker, 275 N.J. Super. 182 (App. Div 1994) (sexual harassment, first amendment, NJLAD, jury trial resulting in defense verdict).
  • Franks v Ivy Club, 228 N.J. Super. 40 (App. Div. 1988), reversed 120 N.J. 73 (1990)(sex discrimination/private clubs).
  • Chai v Fairleigh Dickinson Univ., 160 N.J. Super. 176 (App Div 1977), cert. denied 77 N.J. 511 (1977) (interpretation/coverage NJLAD).
  • Hermann v Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. 180 N.J. Super 500 (App. Div. 1982) (election of remedies under the NJLAD); Local 68 v DRBA, 147 N.J. 433 (1997), cert. denied 188 S.Ct.165 (1997) (NJ Constitution, right to organize/bargain by employees).

Public Sector/PERC Labor Law
The Lum Firm’s Employment and Labor Group represents public entities in a variety of matters. Among the appellate cases we defended were:

  • Delaware River and Bay Authority, a bi-state agency, and collective bargaining negotiations with MEBA regarding the shipboard personnel on the Cape May-Lewes ferry.
  • Fire and police negotiations and interest arbitration regarding the City of Camden and its interaction with the NJ Department of Community Affairs.
  • Over twenty-five agreements involving the County of Essex; negotiations, contract administration, mediation and arbitration for the counties of Morris and Bergen, the cities of Orange, Jersey City, East Orange, and Irvington, the townships of Verona and Union, and the Board of Education of Paterson.

Administrative Law
The firm handles various matters before the New Jersey and US Departments of Labor including:

  • Wage And Hour Matters
  • Prevailing Wage Issues
  • Alleged Retaliation Claims
  • Unemployment And Temporary Disability Matters
  • Whistleblower Allegations
  • ERISA Matters

The group has been involved in the representation of a major corporation in the largest wage and hour compliance issue ever brought by the New Jersey Department of Labor concerning the applicability of the sales exemption. It also recently handled a major "hot goods" case for a garment industry client in the US Department of Labor in New York City.

Our firm has also been involved in OSHA matters, including counseling regarding inspections and charges, mediation, settlements, and trials. It has also handled discrimination matters before the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, EEOC, New York City Human Rights Commission and New York State Division of Human Rights.

The group has also handled a variety of licensure issues before various state licensing boards involving veterinarians, doctors, trainers, and others, and has defended OFCCP audits, and various affirmative action compliance matters involving New Jersey governmental units, and is now addressing the new Executive Order 1 regarding project labor agreements, which it has experience with in other areas.

Employment Compliance And Counseling, Training, Investigations, and Drafting of Policies
The Employment and Labor Group regularly reviews compliance issues and provides legal opinions concerning matters related to:

  • FMLA and New Jersey Family Leave Act
  • Overtime Exemption
  • E-Mail and Internet Usage
  • Alcohol and Drug Related Questions
  • Legal Requirements Regarding Reasonable Accommodations for Persons with Handicaps/Disabilities
  • RIFS
  • Breaches of Employee Loyalty or Wrongdoing
  • Violence in the Workplace

We drafts employment handbooks and anti-harassment policies, trains employees, performs investigations within the workplace and deals with a broad range of issues facing our management clients on a daily basis. Our firm conducts corporate investigations, including investigations of employee allegations of discrimination and harassment. The group firm also handles many severance situations, including the drafting or review of severance agreements.

Trade Secret And Restrictive Covenant Matters:
The Lum Firm has handled many situations involving the drafting and interpretation of trade secret, confidentiality, and restrictive covenant agreements. We have also handled issues concerning common law duties of loyalty. In this area, all aspects of emergent disputes are analyzed and addressed, including the legality of covenants, the rights among the parties and its effect on related or successor companies. The group has also been involved in the mediation of such disputes.

ADR Practice
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a burgeoning area in the litigation field. The firm has handled many traditional labor mediations and arbitrations over the years, such that the many recent developments in this area are a natural expansion of our practice. The group mediates and arbitrates matters on behalf of its clients in state and federal courts, voluntary submissions, and in matters resulting from mandated arbitration in handbooks and agreements. A number of our members are court appointed and NJ Court Approved Mediators. Also, the group handles NASD arbitrations, AAA, and JAMS-Endispute matters.

Construction Related Labor Matters
The group resolves a variety of construction issues, and works closely with the firm’s construction group. Representation includes dealings with pre-hire agreements and relationships with the building trades, jurisdictional disputes, picketing issues, secondary boycotts, prevailing wage issues, OSHA matters, discrimination claims, affirmative action issues, wage and hour matters, and project labor agreements.

Appellate Practice
As indicated in the litigation area and reported cases discussed above, the firm has a broad range of experience in appellate practice, including a variety of matters in the Appellate Division and Supreme Court of New Jersey and appeals from administrative agency decisions, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and other matters that were the subjects of petitions for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.


103 Eisenhower Pkwy - Roseland, NJ 07068
Phone: (973) 403-9000 Fax: (973) 403-9021  Email

103 Eisenhower Pkwy - Roseland, NJ 07068
Phone: (973) 403-9000 Fax: (973) 403-9021

From our offices in Roseland, we serve clients throughout New Jersey, including Newark, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Paterson, Morristown, Hackensack, Livingston, Short Hills, South Orange, West Orange, Millburn, Hanover, as well as Essex County, Hudson County, Passaic County, Morris County, and Bergen County.