Haley v. Board of Review, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). Here are the basic facts of this appeal as Justice Solomon summarized them in his opinion for the Court in this case: “Authorities arrested Clarence Haley for serious offenses and ordered that he be detained pretrial. One week later, Haley’s mother contacted his employer, Garden State Laboratories (Garden State), requesting on Haley’s behalf that his job be preserved. Eight weeks after that, a grand jury declined to indict Haley and the prosecutor dismissed all charges against him. In the interim, Garden State terminated Haley’s...

The Supreme Court announced today that it has granted certification in G.C. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Does N.J.A.C. 10:72-4.4(d)(1), which renders an applicant ineligible for medical assistance benefits under the NJ Medicaid Aged, Blind, Disabled Program if the applicant’s countable income ‘exceeds the poverty income guideline for one person,’ conflict with the New Jersey Medical Assistance and Health Services Act, N.J.S.A. 30:4D-3(i)(11), or the federal Medicaid...

Branch v. Cream-O-Land Dairy, ___ N.J. ___ (2021). As summarized here, the Appellate Division in this overtime Wage and Hour Law (“WHL”) class action case reversed a summary judgment ruling for the defense, holding that the statute’s “good faith defense” was not available to defendant. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson, the Supreme Court affirmed that decision. The Court’s decision was based on the plain language of the statute. As Justice Patterson summarized, to invoke the good faith defense, an employer must “‘plead[] and...