Practice Areas and Legal Definitions

Sexual Harassment:
Sexual harassment is any unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior. It involves a broad range of conduct, including such verbal harassment as derogatory comments, explicit sexual comments and descriptions of sexual exploits, leering or requesting sexual favors. The term also describes physical harassment, ranging from inappropriate touching to outright sexual assault. In order to be classified as illegal the conduct in question must be both unwelcome and offensive to the victim.

Sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination, prohibited in employment settings under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title IX of the 1972 Education Act makes sexual harassment in schools or other educational settings unlawful. The Federal Fair Housing Act also provides protection against sexual harassment, and most states have enacted legislation making it unlawful.

Employment Discrimination:
Discrimination generally occurs when an employee is intentionally treated differently because of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, gender, age, and in some states, sexual orientation. Employment discrimination claims may be prosecuted under various state and federal statutes. Even if the employee’s evidence is sufficient to show discrimination, an employer may be able to justify a particular job action by demonstrating that such treatment arose out of business necessity, or that a legitimate job qualification required consideration of factors that had an unintentional discriminatory effect. When the employer makes such a legitimate justification, the employee must show that discrimination, not the employer’s justification, was the true reason for the action.

Age Discrimination:
It is unlawful for an employer, employment agency or labor union to discriminate in employment on the basis of age. This includes refusing to hire an individual or firing an employee. It also includes an individual’s compensation, the terms, conditions, and privileges of his or her employment, and all employee benefits.

Disability Discrimination:
Both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protect individuals with disabilities from employment discrimination. An individual with a disability is defined as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, has a record of having such a physical or mental impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment. The term is broadly defined to include any physiological, mental or psychologically-based impairment, but it does not include mere physical characteristics or cultural, environmental, or economic impairment—the impairment must cause a substantial limitation to a major life activity. Temporary conditions, such as a broken arm or the flu, would not be considered substantial limitations amounting to a disability entitled to statutory protection.

Whistleblower Claims:
Whistleblower Claims involve employer retaliation, sometimes to the extent of Wrongful Termination, against an employee who reports the improper or unlawful conduct of another employee or of management itself to government authorities. It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against a “whistleblower.”

Wrongful Termination:
Termination of employment cannot be classified as "Wrongful Termination" unless it is in violation of some fundamental public policy, as set forth in a state or federal statute, regulation or constitutional provision. Examples of Wrongful Termination include situations where:

• An employee is discharged for failure to comply with an order to perform an act that violates some law, ordinance or regulation, or
• An employee is discharged in retaliation for complaints about conduct by the employer that he or she believes to be unlawful, e.g., failure to pay overtime, or failure to comply with safety regulations.

Labor Laws:
Historically, labor laws have focused on such matters as eliminating unsafe workplace conditions, securing a living wage for employees, and eliminating, or at least, tempering the strife that often occurs between employee and employers. Since the appearance of organized labor, laws have established collective bargaining rights, and have sought to prevent either employers or employees, individually or through associations or unions, from engaging in unfair labor practices. It is well-established, by various statutes, that both sides to a labor dispute are legally required to engage in good faith collective bargaining. Modern labor laws also address such complex and often emotionally charged issues as strikes, picketing, mutual injunctive relief and lockouts.

Labor and Employment attorneys can help employers with the following:

• Reviewing client employee handbooks, manuals and policy statements
• Assisting with federal and state wage and hour law issues and claims
• Representing employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and state human rights agencies
• Providing advice on issues involving National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) representation and elections including campaign assistance
• Representing employers in unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board and state labor agencies
• Providing representation for grievance and arbitration hearings under collective bargaining agreements
• Collective bargaining on behalf of clients including strategic planning and acting as spokesperson
• Counseling on issues related to strikes or lockouts and providing related litigation support

Employment Law:
Employment law is a well-established body of statutes and judicial decisions covering all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship, including current employees, job applicants and former employees. It covers a wide range of legal issues, ranging from employment discrimination and wrongful termination to matters involving wages and workplace safety. Many employment law issues are governed by applicable federal and state employment law, but a number of issues are determined according to basic contract law.

Employee Rights:
All employees have basic rights arising from both state and federal laws. Some of these rights include: the right not to be subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, skin color, gender, pregnancy, religious beliefs, disability, age, and in some places, marital status or sexual orientation; the right to a workplace free of harassment; the right to be paid at least the minimum wage as provided by federal or state law; the right to overtime wages as provided by federal or state law; the right to a safe workplace and the right to take leave to care for a personal or family member's serious illness, or following the birth or adoption of a child.

Overtime Compensation:
Under both State and Federal law employers are required to pay additional compensation to eligible employees who work more than forty hours during any seven-day period. For every hour over forty hours in any given workweek the employer must pay the eligible employee at least one and one-half times the employee's ordinary hourly rate.

Defamation (Libel & Slander):
Defamation is the communication of a false and unprivileged statement that exposes another to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or which causes him or her to be shunned or avoided, or which has a tendency to injure him or her in his or her trade or occupation. The defamatory statement must be communicated to someone other than the person to whom it refers and it must refer to a living person.

Defamation communicated verbally it is called "Slander," but if it is communicated in writing, it is called "Libel". As a general rule it is easier to recover damages in a lawsuit for libel than in a slander lawsuit. Most defamation litigation in the employment arena concerns the employer’s “qualified privilege” to defame. & Under this concept, employers and former employers are often protected from liability for defaming employees or former employees. By its very definition, however, the privilege is “qualified,” and not “absolute”. It is generally limited to situations in which the employer or former employer is making a good faith communication of information to someone who has a legitimate interest in receiving it. A good example of this is a former employer’s good faith response to a new or prospective employer’s inquiry about the job performance of a former employee.  Generally speaking, even if the information given is false and damaging and would otherwise give rise to a defamation lawsuit, it will be protected under the “qualified” privilege.

If the communication exceeds the scope of the privilege, the privilege is not available. For example, if the communication to your new or prospective employer is not in response to an inquiry, but a voluntary and unsolicited communication, liability for defamation will attach if the information is untrue. Even if the communication is made in response to prospective employer’s inquiry, false and damaging information will not be protected by the privilege if it is made with knowledge or reckless disregard of its falsity, or with the intent to cause injury to the former employee. It is important to remember that however damaging it may be, a truthful statement cannot form the basis of a defamation lawsuit. This legal truism is often expressed in the phrase:  "The Truth is a complete defense to a defamation action".

Severance Agreements:
A severance agreement is a form of settlement agreement under which an aggrieved employee agrees to accept an agreed sum of money in exchange for, among other things, abandoning all claims against the employer.  Where it can be negotiated, a severance agreement saves money and aggravation for both sides. Severance agreements commonly include such provisions as "mutual non-disclosure of terms," an agreement that the employee will not compete against the employer, and that neither the employer nor the employee will make negative comments about the other.

Trade Secrets Agreements:
Employment contracts frequently contain provisions for the protection of the employer’s “trade secrets”. These may range from customer data of one kind or another, to company designs, or even “secret recipes”. Typically, the Trade Secrets clause of an employment contract will provide for “liquidated” damages in the event of disclosure of the information. Liquidated damages are a set dollar figure agreed-upon in advance, to be paid in the event the contract clause is violated.

Non-competition Agreements:
Non-competition agreements are provisions contained within an employment contract which restrict the activities of an employee after leaving the service of the company. Courts treat non-competition agreements with suspicion—with an eye toward preventing unnecessary and unreasonable interference with a person’s livelihood after severance of the employer/employee relationship.

The Courts will often decline to enforce “unreasonable” non-competition agreements. A non-competition clause in the agreement under which a used car lot employs an auto mechanic will likely be summarily rejected by the court as unreasonable. The agreement must be reasonable in duration. A non-competition agreement barring the sales manager of a used car lot from engaging in the used car business for the rest of his or her life, or for 50 years, would probably be denied enforcement, while one with a 2-year term might well be enforced.  Non-competition agreements must be reasonable in the area covered. If the agreement precludes the sales manager from engaging in the used car business anywhere in North America, it will almost certainly be denied enforcement as unreasonable. If the area is limited to Cherry Hill, for example, it would probably withstand court scrutiny.

Administrative Law:
Administrative Law is a system of justice outside the judicial system that is designed to bring resolution to conflicts arising within a detailed and technical structure of regulations. Administrative Law Courts have a reputation for resolving issues with greater speed and efficiency than the judicial system. Final Administrative Law decisions can be challenged in the Courts, but not until all administrative remedies have been exhausted. Final Administrative Law decisions can also be converted to Court Judgments and then enforced by any of the traditional remedies available for the enforcement of civil judgments.

Injunctions:
Injunctions are a type of Court Order that either requires or prohibits specified conduct or behavior. Injunctions are remedies frequently used in employment cases. They involve such situations as injunctions requiring striking public employees to return to work, or injunctions requiring someone to stop engaging in an unlawful employment practice.  Willful failure to comply with an injunction can lead to a citation for contempt of court, and can result in significant money sanctions or even time in jail for the purpose of coercing compliance.

Employment Policy Manuals & Employee Handbooks:
An extraordinarily high percentage of Employment Law conflicts arise because there simply is no established company policy on a particular issue or the existing policy is either unknown or poorly understood. Competent Employment Law counsel can help draft and put together a company policy manual that is both comprehensive and understandable, and an employee handbook that leaves no doubt as to what is expected from each employee, and what he or she can expect from the company.

If you or someone you know needs the assistance of an experienced Cherry Hill New Jersey Labor and Employment Attorney, call the Law Offices of Kevin M. Costello, P.C. today at 866-741-8127, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your free consultation.

If you or someone you know needs the assistance of an experienced Cherry Hill New Jersey Labor and Employment Attorney, call the Law Offices of Kevin M. Costello, P.C. today at 866-741-8127, or complete the contact form provided on this site to schedule your free consultation.

ADDRESS OF THE FIRM:
Law Offices of Kevin M. Costello, P.C.
2090 E. Route 70
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
Telephone: 866-741-8127
Fax: 856-751-3788

MEMBERS OF THE FIRM:

Kevin M. Costello
Kevin Costello put himself through college (Brandies University, 1988) and law school (Suffolk University, 1991) working as a tennis pro, truck loader, bouncer, bartender, personal trainer and aide in the New York Department of Health and Human Services.

After serving a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Barry M. Weinberg in Camden, New Jersey, Kevin began a jury litigation practice in 1992 which continues to the present, concentrating in employment and civil rights, personal injury, consumer protection and criminal defense.  He has been representing individuals, their families and their small businesses for his entire career.

Kevin is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, a designation given to less than four percent of New Jersey lawyers.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Trial Lawyers Association of New Jersey, and, for ATLA, Chairs the " Meadowlands Seminar" and "Boardwalk Seminar" Employment Programs., The Labor and Employment Section of ATLA-NJ, and the Listserve Committee for the Board of Governors.

He serves as an instructor for the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education, has been published in the area of employment and civil rights law, is a 2008-2009 Vice Chair for the LGBTI rights section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, has served as a faculty member teaching other lawyers trial law, and has served as a Chairman of both the Camden County Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Committee and Personal Injury Committees.

Kevin has been named a "Champion of Equality" by the Garden State Equality Advocacy Organization.  He has been named a 2005 "Super Lawyer", a 2006 "Top Lawyer Under Forty" a "Top 5% of New Jersey Lawyers" for 2007 and a 2008 Super Lawyer by New Jersey Super Lawyers Magazine.

He has been named to the Board of the Garden State Equality Organization in recognition of his service to the GLBT community.

Kevin has appeared in print for numerous causes and cases, most recently for the Toga Bartenders litigation against Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City.  He has appeared on, among other broadcasts, the "Morning Show with Mike and Juliet", on the Fox network, a nationally televised morning program.

Kevin has served as a Board Member for the South Jersey Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, has volunteered for, and has consistently supported, a number of South Jersey charities and public interest organizations, and remains committed to the community and constituency he serves.

He lives with his wife and son in South Jersey.


Deborah L. Mains
Deborah Mains graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Studies and obtained her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law - Camden in 1995. After completing a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Mary E. Colalillo in Camden, NJ, she joined the labor department of a large South Jersey Union-side litigation law firm, representing unions and employee benefit funds before state and federal courts. In addition, she represented individual workers in a variety of state and municipal court actions, assisting them with everything from unemployment benefits to criminal charges. Deborah continued to represent unions, benefit funds and individuals in labor and employment matters.

Deborah comes to the firm fresh from her tenure as Associate General Counsel of the largest property services union in the United States. As Associate General Counsel, Deborah provided legal counsel to the Union on organizing campaigns and strikes; represented the Union before the federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board and, most important to her, arbitrated hundreds of grievances on behalf of individual members of the Union who had been unjustly discharged, disciplined or otherwise deprived of benefits.

Ms. Mains is a member of the New Jersey and New York bars, about to apply for waive-in admission of the Pennsylvania Bar. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice - NJ, of the State Bar and of the Camden County Bar Associations.

Deborah resides in South Jersey.