Employment

The 1964 Freedom Summer was due in large part to the initiative and efforts of James Leonard Farmer, Jr., though many have not heard of his name. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) leaders previously hired Farmer as its National Director in 1961. As the civil rights movement gained a foothold, Farmer’s immediate priority was to increase public awareness of the goals of CORE, an organization with its then current main presence in Northern states, through organizing a direct action campaign in the Southern states for fundraising and to garner public interest and support. As discussed in prior article, under his leadership, interracial volunteers began a bus trip through the South to test Supreme Court decisions prohibiting segregation in interstate transportation.

James Farmer dedicated his life to the advancement of civil rights for blacks. He was one of the Founders of the Congress for Racial Equality, CORE, in 1942 and is considered one of the most influential of the civil rights leaders of the 1960's along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, Chief of NAACP, and Whitney Young. He was born in 1920 and died in 1999 at age of 79.

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/Bills/S4500/4204_I1.

New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), N.J.S.A. §§ 34:19-1 to -8, defines an "employee" as any individual who performs services for and under the control and direction of an employer for wages or other remuneration.

The New Jersey Senate introduced a bill to distinguish the classifications between “employee” and “Independent Contractor” for the purposes of NJ Wage and Hour laws. Workers, particularly high-end professionals such as IT managers etc., who are classified by their employers as “independent contractors” wonder if this new legislation will offer them protections from retaliation if they whistleblow on their employer’s illegal acts. In many instances, this legislation is unlikely to make a difference due to the evolution of the law by the NJ courts in determining cases brought under NJ’s whistleblower statute, The Conscientious Employee Protection Act, “CEPA”.

This new proposed legislation attempts to prevent widespread practice of mis-classification by employers of their workers, calling them, “independent contractors” when the workers are essentially employees.

Many workers feel that they are in a gray zone as to their job classification as to whether they are an independent contractor or employee. As the classification relates to whistleblower to discrimination laws, even an employer’s failure to withhold Federal or State income taxes, pay unemployment compensation contributions or workers' compensation premiums will not necessarily be determinative as to whether the workers are covered under the protection of state whistleblower and discrimination laws.

A new Senate bill proposes to tighten the definition of independent contractor for clarity for both employers and employees. This was prompted by rampant abuses by some employers who did not classify workers as employees so as to not have to adhere to NJ Wage and Hour Laws, not contribute to the workers’ social security and other benefits, and not have the workers be covered under the safety umbrella of employee protection statutes. The language of the proposed amendment however will not necessarily end the confusion as to the proper classification in many industries and may actually add to the confusion in some instances.

Acting Governor Sheila Oliver signed the New Jersey Wage Theft Act into law earlier this year. This Act is considered by many to be the toughest wage theft statute in the US.The New Jersey Wage Theft Act amends many of NJ’s existing civil and criminal statutes and three employment statutes mandating wages:

Two of the amended statutes addressing wages are:

1.) N.J.

Employees in New Jersey and elsewhere may feel nervous about retiring in their 60's, even when they had previously planned retiring by age 65 or 66 when they were younger workers. Increased costs of living and shrinking pension benefits may be part of the cause of the nervousness for their wanting to extend their retirement age, but anxiety regarding the decision as to the best age to retire can be exacerbated if they perceive they are being pushed out of the workforce by their employer, that their self-determination of when they will choose retire is being taken away from them.

First, employees in NJ should know that in NJ, it is illegal for an employer to fire someone because of their age - even if they are “senior” citizen workers in their 70's and 80's etc. (I personally don’t care for that phrase- “senior citizens” - it’s unfortunately loaded with far too many negative connotations. Hoping that mainstream culture substitutes “venerable” or that something similar will eventually replace it.