Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this employment discrimination case held that an arbitration provision that did not specify a forum or process for the arbitration did not reflect a meeting of the minds and was not enforceable. Defendant obtained Supreme Court review and that Court reversed in a unanimous opinion by Justice Patterson that applied de novo review to the legal issues involved. The Court restored the judgment of the Law Division that arbitration was required, but modified that judgment in one respect. Justice...

Skuse v. Pfizer, Inc., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). As discussed here, the Appellate Division in this case reversed a trial level ruling that compelled the plaintiff employee to arbitrate a dispute that she had with her employer, Pfizer. Pfizer had e-mailed employees what it called a “training module” that contained slides regarding Pfizer’s mandatory arbitration policy. That material stated, among other things, that employees who continued their employment at Pfizer for 60 days would be “deemed” to have agreed to the arbitration provision. Employees were asked to...

In re Ridgefield Park Bd. of Educ., ___ N.J. ___ (2020). The question in this case was whether health insurance premium contribution rates for members of the Ridgefield Park Education Association (“the Association”) were non-negotiable because the subject was pre-empted by state legislation known as Chapter 78. The Association entered into a collective bargaining agreement that specified contribution rates, but thereafter the Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”) ruled in a case involving a different municipality that Chapter 78 pre-empted a negotiated...