Fraud and Misrepresentation

Unfortunately, fraud by employers is not uncommon. Some employers lie to convince employees to accept their job offers. For example, they might promise you a particular salary, job title and level of support, or they might provide misinformation about the company’s profits and stability. Based on these misrepresentations, employees often give up secure jobs, sell their homes, uproot their families, move great distances or otherwise alter their lifestyles to accept a job, only to learn that the employer’s promises and representations were false.

This conduct can be very damaging to the lives and careers of its victims and their families. Fortunately, under New Jersey law, this type of misconduct can be legally actionable.

If you have been a victim of employment fraud, we can help. We invite you to contact us online or call us at (201) 777-2250 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced New Jersey employment fraud attorneys.

Employment fraud takes many forms, but it typically involves a misrepresentation about your compensation, job duties, responsibilities and/or the stability of the company and its prospects for success. For instance, it might be the basis for a claim of employment fraud if a company promised you a specific salary, bonus or commission, only to pay you significantly less after you start the job.

Similarly, it could be the basis for a legal claim if you accepted a job because the employer falsely assured you that your position would be secure when it actually knew your job was scheduled to be eliminated as part of an upcoming mass layoff or reduction in force.

Not every unfulfilled promise by a prospective employer is legally actionable fraud. Rather, the false statement has to have been material, meaning you would not have accepted the job without it. In addition, the person making the misrepresentation has to have known or believed it was false. Generally, an honest mistake or an overly optimistic opinion is not actionable as fraud.

Further, you have to have reasonably relied on the promise in a way that harmed you, such as by quitting another job or selling your home to relocate. The more drastically you changed your life based on the misrepresentation, the stronger your fraud claim is likely to be. Severe cases often involve employees who relocate great distances — sometimes traveling across the country or immigrating to the United States from overseas — for a job that turns out to be far worse than what they expected or does not even exist.

If you have been the victim of employment fraud in New Jersey, or if you are trying to negotiate an employment contract that will protect you against it, Rabner Baumgart Ben-Asher & Nirenberg, P.C. can help. Our work on numerous precedent-setting cases has benefited employees throughout the state. We will dedicate our time and talents to protect your legal rights.

To schedule an appointment with an experienced New Jersey employment fraud attorney you can either contact us online or call us at (201) 777-2250.