Articles Posted in New Jersey Labor Law

The question of mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 has proven to be quite controversial over the past year. In late 2021, the White House directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a rule requiring all employers with one hundred or more employees to require vaccination against COVID. Lawsuits soon followed challenging OSHA’s authority to do this. The U.S. Supreme Court recently affirmed several lower court orders staying this rule. At the same time, it upheld a rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requiring many healthcare workers to get vaccinated. New Jersey healthcare workers are also subject to a series of executive orders from the governor regarding vaccination.

Vaccination mandates are not a new concept in the U.S. The Supreme Court affirmed state laws requiring vaccination against smallpox in 1905 in Jacobson v. Massachusetts. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, governments throughout the U.S. have largely left it to employers to decide whether to require their employers to get vaccinated, or they have left the decision to individuals.

Many states require healthcare workers to get vaccinated against COVID. Prior to the pandemic, New Jersey enacted a law requiring employees of hospitals, nursing homes, and home health care agencies to get an annual flu vaccine. The state legislature has not passed any laws requiring COVID vaccinations, but the governor has taken action. In August 2021, Governor Phil Murphy issued the first of several executive orders requiring employees of certain healthcare facilities to get the COVID vaccine. He issued a new order on January 19, 2022, expanding the scope of the prior orders.
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Remote work, telecommuting, and other “alternative” forms of work were already becoming increasingly common before the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2020, many thousands of workers found themselves having to adapt quite quickly to work-from-home scenarios as part of New Jersey’s public health response. An executive order (EO) from New Jersey’s governor effectively mandated remote work for many employers and employees for over a year. That mandate ended in the summer of 2021, but many workers would prefer to continue working from home. This raises questions about employees’ rights regarding remote work. If you work from home and have questions regarding your rights to continue to work remotely, please contact a New Jersey employment lawyer today.

Work-from-Home Orders

The governor issued EO 107 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 21, 2020. The order directed New Jersey residents to “remain home or at their place of residence” at most times, with exceptions for activities like obtaining food and other goods, seeking medical care, and going to work. Paragraph 10 of EO 107 required employers to “accommodate their workforce, wherever practicable, for telework or work-from-home arrangements.” This provision took effect immediately.

The governor issued EO 243 over a year later, on May 26, 2021. This order revoked paragraph 10 of EO 107, effective June 4. Employers who required their employees to return to the worksite would still be required to follow an order issued last November, EO 192, regarding workplace safety during the pandemic.
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Vaccinations are among the most effective methods of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, according to public health officials and other experts. The state government has established vaccination requirements for workers in certain fields. In early September 2021, the White House announced an upcoming measure that would direct large private employers to require their employees to get the vaccine or submit to weekly testing. This measure has not taken effect yet, and the actual rule might not be available for at least several more weeks. It is worthwhile to examine how this might affect New Jersey employees.

Current New Jersey Vaccine Requirements

New Jersey had no official vaccine mandates until late summer 2021. On August 2, the governor announced that certain workers would have to get vaccinated or get tested for COVID at least once a week. The governor’s order applies to state hospitals and correctional facilities, as well as private prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, inpatient rehab facilities, and home health agencies. These requirements took effect on September 7.

Additional vaccination requirements will take effect on future dates for employees in other workplaces, including:
– October 18: schools, state agencies, and public colleges and universities; and
– November 1: child care facilities.
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We are now almost a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the situation has improved considerably, we still face many problems. Several different vaccines are now available to most of the population, and they have shown that they are very effective against the early strains of the virus. Like all vaccines, though, they are not 100% effective. As of mid-July 2021, nearly seventy percent of adults in New Jersey are fully vaccinated. In some areas of the state, however, the rate remains below fifty percent. This raises two major questions for us as employment lawyers. First, what does New Jersey law have to say about employers that require their employees to get vaccinated? The answer to this question has changed over the last year, but it appears to be resolving in favor of employer vaccine mandates. The second question is whether a New Jersey employer that does not require vaccines violates workplace safety laws. This question does not have a clear answer.

Employer Vaccine Mandates

The only specific vaccine requirement found in New Jersey’s statutes, N.J. Rev. Stat. § 26:2H-18.79, involves the influenza vaccine. It requires healthcare workers to get the influenza vaccine annually. Employees cannot opt out of the flu vaccine, except for certain medical reasons.

State health officials are taking the position that employers can mandate vaccination for COVID. Guidance issued by the New Jersey Department of Health in March 2021 states that employers can require employees to get the vaccine as a condition of returning to the workplace, with three exemptions:
1. A disability that precludes an employee from getting the vaccine;
2. A doctor’s recommendation not to get the vaccine during pregnancy or breastfeeding; or
3. A “sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance.”
An employer must provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee who falls under one of these exemptions, unless doing so would pose an undue burden.
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Federal law protects workers’ right to organize for the purpose of negotiating with their employers, such as by joining or forming a labor union. Some employers look for creative ways to discourage their employees from organizing. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) prohibits employers from interfering with activity related to labor organizing, but it often provides leeway allowing employers to discourage workers without quite reaching the level of unlawful coercion. New Jersey employment law is generally favorable to unions, but employers in this state can still take advantage of gaps in the NLRA’s protections. A bill currently pending in the U.S. Congress, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2021, would amend the NLRA to include far greater protections for workers. The House of Representatives passed it in March 2021, and it awaits action by the Senate.

Section 7 of the NLRA, codified at 29 U.S.C. § 157, states that employees have the right to organize themselves in order to bargain collectively with their employers. They may do this by joining an existing labor union, or they can form a union of their own. The law also protects workers’ right to engage in “concerted activities” related to labor organizing. Courts have taken a broad view of what counts as protected concerted activity.

The NLRA’s restrictions on employer actions are found in § 8(a) of the law, or 29 U.S.C. § 158(a). Employers may not “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees” who are exercising their rights under § 7. They also may not discriminate or retaliate against employees because of their protected activities.
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Employers in New Jersey have a legal obligation to provide a reasonably safe work environment for their employees, free of not only discrimination and harassment but also unsafe conditions that pose a risk of injury or death. Multiple laws at both the state and federal levels address employers’ liability for employees’ workplace injuries. Many injuries fall under the state’s workers’ compensation law, which limits workers’ access to the courts except in cases involving “intentional wrongs.” As we near the start of the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, the courts are receiving numerous lawsuits filed by New Jersey workers and their families seeking to hold employers liable for injuries and deaths caused by the novel coronavirus. A lawsuit filed last summer in Hudson County, for example, alleges wrongful death and other claims against the state’s public transit authority on behalf of an employee who died of COVID-19 last spring.

The New Jersey workers’ compensation law is, in essence, a compromise between employees and employers. Employers pay into an insurance fund, similar to the funds that support the state’s unemployment and disability compensation systems. An employee who suffers a work-related injury on the job is guaranteed compensation from this fund without having to prove that their employer was at fault. In exchange, the employee waives their right to pursue greater damages in court. The one exception to this waiver of litigation rights applies when the injuries are the result of “intentional wrong.” N.J. Rev. Stat. § 34:15-8.

The workers’ compensation statute does not define the term “intentional wrong,” but various court decisions have offered some guidance. With regard to COVID-19, questions of legal liability are still largely hypothetical since New Jersey courts have yet to rule on any major disputes. Employers are sure to dispute whether COVID-19 constitutes a work-related injury, along with disputes over whether any intentional acts on their part caused an employee’s illness. Another factor, of course, could be efforts by some in the U.S. Congress to shield employers from liability for COVID-19 risks in the workplace.

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