I am currently working on appealing against an employer for whom a family member of mine used to work fer. The employer asked the employee repeatedly to break the law and put clients' health and safety in jeopardy. He was also verbally abusive for the entirety of employment, but since he was the owner of the company, there was no one else to go to in order to resolve this issue. After basically being harassed until she resigned (due to her unwillingness to put lives and her long term career in jeopardy), she was initially rewarded unemployment benefits but later denied because she "voluntarily" left. Are there any precedent cases that anyone knows of that protect an employee from abuse of power by owner of company or being harassed due to unwillingness to break the law?

Pierce v. Ortho Pharm. Corp. N.J. 58 (1980 (http://www.lapres.net/pierce.html)) In Pierce, the Supreme Court declared for the first time that an at-will employee has a cause of action (in tort or contract or both) for wrongful discharge in New Jersey when that discharge is contrary to a "clear mandate of public policy."
We hold that an employee has a cause of action for wrongful discharge when the discharge is contrary to a clear mandate of public policy. The sources of public policy include legislation; administrative rules, regulations or decisions; and judicial decisions. In certain instances, a professional code of ethics may contain an expression of public policy. However . . . unless an employee at will identifies a specific expression of public policy, he may be discharged with or without cause.
JoeC

I would recommend that your family member discuss the situation with an employment attorney.

I would recommend that your family member discuss the situation with an employment attorney.


Ditto. Did she report any of these "requests" to the proper regulatory authority? That would help her case.

Unfortunately she can not afford an attorney, so I have been working on this, as I went to school for law, but never took it to the professional level. The Catch 22 is that she would be paying out more to an attorney than she would be receiving in backpay, so I am trying my hand at this again and hoping for the best.

JoeC - Thank you! I think this will help me tremendously!

You are trying to win a U.I hearing correct? If you think there is a cause for a wrongful termination suite you will have to go to an attorney. You may run it by an attorney anyway. N.J recognizes wrongful termination as a tort or contract or both so the remedies may not be limited to just back,you may have other remedies of common law.
JoeC

There are plenty of employment attorneys in NJ who would take a retaliation-against-whistleblower case on a contingency basis.

When you say "clients' health and safety" was at risk, are you referring to some sort of healthcare or behavioral health client?

New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act (our version of a whistleblower act) has a specific provision for licensed healthcare professionals who become whistleblowers by virtue of believing, in their professional capacity, that a company's practices compromise client care, and diclose or threaten to disclose it. Also, any employee can attain whistleblower status if they object to a practice that they believe is illegal, or harmful to clients. The law protects these whistleblowers from any retaliation (must be an adverse employment action, not things like dirty looks, etc).

NJ has interpreted the law very liberally in favor of employees. If an employee left a job "voluntarily" because they were retaliated against for a whistleblowing action, it can be determiend to be involuntary or a "constructive" termination.

Whatever, there are attorneys who will take this on. Come on, this is New Jersey after all. Your friend ain't talking to the right people...