A Victory for the IUC in the New Jersey Supreme Court
In a major victory for the IUC the New Jersey Supreme Court announced its unanimous opinion in Vitale v Schering-Plough, in which it held unconscionable an employment contract that purported to deprive injured employees of one company of the right to sue customers of their employer for injuries suffered on the customers’ premises. In particular, a security guard employed by Allied Barton Security Services was permitted to sue Schering-Plough, where he had been assigned to work, for injuries suffered in falling down stairs that were negligently maintained by Schering-Plough despite Allied Barton’s attempt to immunize its customers from such suits.
IUC General Counsel Bennet D. Zurofsky co-authored (with Richard Schall) an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of the employee on behalf of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council and the New Jersey chapter of the National Employment Lawyers’ Association. The decision is a significant blow against continuing attempts by employers to deprive workers of their statutory and/or common law rights simply by agreeing to employ them. It’s disgusting that we had to go all the way to the NJ Supreme Court to vindicate this particularly unconscionable attempt to prevent full tort recovery for a workplace injury—but it’s terrific that a unanimous Court agreed with us.