Labor and Employment Law

Essex County New Jersey Labor and Employment Law Attorneys

Representing Management and Defendants

At the Lum Firm, our labor & employment law attorneys represent a broad spectrum of business and defendants, including closely held businesses, Fortune 500 companies, public-sector clients, other entities, and individual defendants. Our Labor and Employment Group as been recognized by Chambers USA “America’s Leading Business Lawyers (2003-2006 editions) as one of the five leading practice groups in the state.

Employment Litigation

Our Labor and Employment Group has extensive experience in litigation, trials, arbitration/ alternative dispute resolution procedures, and appellate practice. This includes many cases in the defense of companies and individual defendants concerning alleged violations of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, CEPA (whistleblowing), and many other statutory and common law causes of action. The group has been involved in many reported cases in this area of law, including LePore v National Tool; Baliko v Stecker, Department of Labor v. Pepsi-Cola Co., Local 68 v Delaware River and Bay Authority; Franks v Ivy Club; Chai v FDU; Hermann v FDU; and many others. We have also represented various public entities and public officials in a variety of litigated matters including representation of the Attorney General of New Jersey in civil rights litigation, the NJ State Police, the NJ Department of Corrections, UMDNJ, the Delaware River and Bay Authority, the Counties of Essex, Passaic, Morris, Somerset, Bergen and Union, and a variety of municipalities. We are approved insurance defense counsel for AIG and other carriers.

Non-Competition Litigation

We have advised many clients concerning non-competition, confidentiality and trade secret agreements, and litigated many cases in this area. We have extensive experience in New Jersey Superior Court Chancery Division litigation in the various counties. For example, we were recently involved in litigation in the Chancery Division, Morris County involving non-compete claims between Intuit and ADP.

Traditional Private Sector Labor Law

We have extensive NLRB experience, including representation of companies in union-related matters, NLRB elections, collective bargaining, project labor agreements, contract interpretation, and labor mediation and arbitration. We also have extensive experience in administrative law matters in the state and federal departments of labor and other administrative entities. This has included wage and hour matters, prevailing wage matters, OSHA, EEOC, NJDCR, and other state and city human rights agencies. We negotiated the Project Labor Agreement at the Meadowlands Landfill for Mactec Construction. We have represented clients in the following industries: car processing; industrial gas distribution; warehousing/trucking operations; tool and die; manufacturing,; construction; longshoremen operations; garment industry; chemical processing; and others.

Public Sector Labor Law

We represent municipalities, counties, and agencies in public sector labor law related to NJ PERC, including collective negotiations, interest arbitration, unfair practice matters, and in contract interpretation. This has included negotiations and interest arbitration in the area of police and fire units. We also have considerable involvement in the area of K-9 units, and have handled a variety of litigation connected with them for various governmental entities.

Human Resources Consultation and Training

We provide full services concerning review, drafting, implementation and consultation concerning labor and employment policies, anti-discrimination policies, training of employees, and investigation in conjunction with them. We have also been involved in RIFs, ERPs, and an extensive variety of severance matters, including the negotiation and review of severance agreements.

ADR/Mediation

We have vast experience in arbitration and mediation of traditional labor and litigation matters at the state and federal level. We also have experience in the NJ Mediation program both as counsel, and as court-appointed and party-selected voluntary mediators, and have successfully mediated many employment discrimination and other employment related claims.

Representative Clients

UMDNJ; Pepsi-Cola Bottling Group, Inc.; Northeast Auto-Marine Terminal; Marotta Controls, Inc.; Welco-CGI Gas Technologies; Dry Ice Corp; American Compressed Gases Inc; Van Brunt Warehouses, Inc.; Isolatek, Inc; Counties of Essex, Passaic, Morris, Somerset; Cities of Linden, Orange, Camden, Verona, West Caldwell; Northeast Auto-Marine Terminal; Marotta Controls, Inc.