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Old 11-30-2007, 12:42 AM
LBP LBP is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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In order to help you it might be helpful to be a little more specific about your situation. Also the use of certain terminology might help point you in the right direction.

In the legal world "labor law" generally means union issues. Do you belong to a labor union? If not... you might need to be using "employment law" and/or "employment discrimination" terminology. In reading your "signature" as a sales rep, it seems to imply you're not a part of a union. Some law firms do both labor and employment law but there are many plaintiff side firms that just do discrimination cases (often times along with personal injury law) and not much union stuff or workers comp stuff. Just my personal experience in CA. And while you might have a workers comp lawyer, wc is a whole other world. Employment law/discrimination lawyers don't necessarily do much with the wc issues but sometimes the two worlds overlap/collide a bit. Just a heads up. Some issues affect each other but many times you have different lawyers for these different areas of the law.

To me it sounds like you feel as if you might be discriminated for having a medical condition, a disability, need some accomodations, or perhaps you feel like your employer is retaliating against you for your medical leave or ongoing medical condition or disability. Or maybe even retaliation for having a workers comp claim???? You want to look at Employment law /Discrimination laws as well as Family Medical Leave Act and discuss and state common law possibilities. Have you started a converstation with your employer about what kinds of accomodations you need to perform your job?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission eeoc.gov website might be a good start regarding federal laws,

and your state also has an agency see www.state.nj.us/lps/dcr/law.html

Your state laws and procedural requirements might be different and may expand on your federal rights. Also you may need to look at fed and state Family and Medical Leave Act issues.

It sure wouldn't hurt to do a free consult with a plaintiff's attorney who specializes in employment law issues and discrimination issues, In California there were some public policy arguments to be made depending on the situation (usually wrongful termination in violation of public policy) but I have no idea what is applicable in NJ. Generaly these types of cases work on contingency fee arrangments for actual litigation but in a more informal situation (pre litigation) you might make some arrangement on an hourly rate for the attorney to give advice, guidance, and even mediation with your employer or their counsel to educate them about your situation, needs and rights under the law.

Sometimes attorneys can help avoid litigation, and thus avoid fighting to get your job back. The attorney may also be able to give you some good advice how to document retaliatory type behavior and how to properly deal with your situation and how to protect your rights and perhaps put your employer on notice of the laws. Your employer may need some education. It's important to give your employer an opportunity to do the right thing if you are perceiving some unlawful treatment by your employer.

Besides opening up a phone book, Findlaw.com and martindale.com can help you search for lawyers and lawfirms in a specific city as well as legal speciality. Findlaw may also help with general information about various legas subjects. Most of the big/long firm names are defense lawyers...it takes a little more digging to find the right plaintiff's attorney.

Not sure if you need this info... but: see http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/for...s/tdi/Code.pdf

other possible sites:
http://blog.laborlawcenter.com/2006/08/24/new-jersey-nj...aw-in-the-workplace/

http://njlawnet.com/employmentlaw.html

I've never lived in NJ, My licence to practice in CA is currently inactive while I try to get ADR surgery. Therefore, Please do not construe this as any form of legal advice. I am only directing you to websites for general background info and also websites that might help you find a attorney in your area to discuss your specific situaiton so that you can inform yourself how to deal with potential legal issues in the context of your real life health and family needs.
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