Monthly Archives: September 2013

In the present economic climate, many once-thriving businesses are having trouble paying their rent. An obligation that once seemed both reasonable and manageable may become difficult for a tenant whose business falls off and customers hold back. Leases entered into during boom times, when there was competition among tenants for premises and landlords had the upper hand, may come to seem to tenants unfair and unaffordable. In such circumstances, a tenant may seek the landlord’s agreement to a “work-out,” a reformation of the lease adjusting the rent, the size of the demised premises, the use of the premises, or other lease terms to help the tenant continue in business in the premises. Sometimes, the parties can agree to a new arrangement which benefits both landlord and tenant.

New Jersey employers have long been aware that New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (the LAD), which protects employees from unlawful discrimination by employers, labor organizations and employment agencies, contains protection for workers that in some respects exceeds the protection provided by Federal laws such as the Civil Rights Acts, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act, which has been described as one of the most far-reaching “whistleblower” protection statutes in the United States, prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who discloses wrongdoing on the part of the company.

Tropical Storm Sandy, which devastated the Jersey Shore almost a year ago, has prompted much head-shaking, collective soul-searching and the expenditure of a great deal of ink. In addition to the engineering and scientific challenges raised by Sandy and its aftermath, age-old legal concepts about private property rights, government’s obligation to protect the public, and how to reconcile those concepts in practice are being re-examined.