Kingston Law Group Celebrates 40 Years

Princeton, NJ - The Kingston Law Group is celebrating 40 years of service to people in the Princeton, NJ region and other parts of the state.

“Forty years. It is so hard for me to believe it’s been that long. When I started the Kingston Law Group, I just wanted to help people and give them the legal advice they needed to make the best possible decisions,” said Hanan M. Isaacs, founding partner of the law firm. “I had no idea back then what the future would hold.”

Over the years, Mr. Isaacs has risen to the top of the legal profession in the Garden State. Among his other accomplishments is that he’s a New Jersey Supreme Court Certified Matrimonial Specialist. Less than 300 New Jersey attorneys, out of 80,000, hold this certification. He has also served on numerous boards and committees, including two NJ Supreme Court committees.

Throughout the years he has seen many changes to New Jersey laws and the legal profession in general. For the Kingston Law Group, all this meant adapting to the times.

Now the firm focuses on litigation with a concentration in employment law, civil litigation, family law, and criminal defense.

In 2018, Mr. Isaacs formed a law partnership with Misty V. Avallone, Esq., a long-time associate of the firm, who focuses on matrimonial law practice.  Misty first came to work here in 2007, 14 years ago, as a trial paralegal.  She went to law school from 2008 to 2011, passed the NJ/PA bars, and started working here as a legal associate immediately after.

“We work hard to bring compassion and unrelenting advocacy to every case we take on.  Misty and I believe every client deserves to be treated with respect and have the side of the story told,” he said. “No matter what issue you bring to us, if we take your case, we will back you completely.”

Over the years, the firm has litigated some ground-breaking and landmark cases.

To see the firm’s major cases and the decisions, please visit Significant Cases.

“I look back on all the cases we tried over the years and the body of law they helped create. I am humbled that our clients chose this firm to represent them. I am honored to be a part of changing New Jersey laws to make them better serve the people of this state,” Mr. Isaacs said.

With the addition of Ms. Avallone, the firm was able to expand its reach and client services. Mr. Isaacs said the decision to bring her into the practice ranks as one of his best.

“For me, to be able to work alongside Hanan every day and be able to tap his incredible experience is just amazing. I learn new things regularly and it all makes me a better attorney and better able to serve the people who come to me for help,” she said. “I look forward to expanding Kingston Law Group’s reputation for legal excellence.”

For more information about the firm, its areas of expertise or the two attorneys, visit Kingston Law Group.

 

About Kingston Law Group

In 1981, Hanan M. Isaacs created a Central Jersey law partnership with Robert A. Felmeister. The firm was known as Felmeister & Isaacs. From their newly minted law offices In East Windsor, Mercer County, these two young lawyers were hellbent on creating an immediate commercial following. They took an aggressive stance on their first amendment right to advertise their legal services, including on the radio, a right the New Jersey Supreme Court was slow to recognize and support. Their stance produced a 4-year tussle with the Supreme Court, resulting in multiple hearings in state and federal court and two changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct, including the current Rule permitting most forms of advertising.

In 1988, Felmeister departed the firm to start a different career, and Isaacs constructed a sole practice focusing on family and divorce (in which he is a Certified Family Law Practitioner), employment law for workers, personal injury, insurance bad faith, and general civil and criminal defense practice. He also is an expert in negotiations, mediation, and arbitration of cases, whether as a neutral or a lawyer representing a party in those venues.

From 1998 to 2018, Mr. Isaacs hired paralegals and law associates to handle the firm’s work. He taught dispute resolution at Seton Hall Law School and Rider University, taught lawyers and judges the art and craft of negotiations and mediation, served as a Mediation Trainer and lecturer for the NJ Institute of Continuing Legal Education and NJ Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM), published many articles on divorce, family law, and Alternative Dispute Resolution, and served in leadership roles at the State Bar Association, on Supreme Court Committees, and at NJAPM. He also served for many years on successive Zoning Boards of Adjustment (in Montgomery Township and Princeton), and on his Homeowners Association Board.

About Hanan M. Isaacs

Hanan M. Isaacs is a mediator, arbitrator, and trial lawyer who is dedicated to providing legal representation and ADR services to Central Jersey clients. He is a New Jersey Supreme Court Certified Family Law Specialist and a NJAPM Accredited Professional Mediator (APM) in general civil and divorce matters. Mr. Isaacs's law practice focuses on family law, employment law, general civil and criminal law litigation, and ADR.

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May NJ Employers Mandate Employees’ COVID-19 Vaccination as a Condition of New or Continued Employment?

Lawsuits are based on specific facts. Some judges have decided vaccine mandate legal claims and the results are mixed, though most favor employers. The City of Newark successfully defended a legal challenge to its order that city employees be vaccinated, setting the legal stage for future employee lawsuits in the state. 

Kingston Law Group represents employees in a wide range of legal issues, including employment discrimination. If you have a medical condition that is threatened by a vaccine mandate and have questions about your legal rights, COVID-19, and your workplace, give us a call at 1-609-683-7400. 

There Must be Exceptions to a Vaccine Mandate

New Jersey employers are within their rights to mandate a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. This depends on whether:

• A contract or Employee Handbook provision applies and, if so, what language covers the mandated vaccine circumstance

• An employee seeks a reasonable accommodation for not getting vaccinated based on disability

If the employee feels they haven’t been reasonably accommodated, they could use legal action to force the employer not to apply the policy to them. Challenging an employer’s power to mandate vaccines would almost certainly be a waste of time.

New Jersey Public Employees Can be Required to Get Vaccinated or Face Discipline

In a decision issued September 27, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, sided with the city of Newark in a legal challenge by unions representing city employees.  The court reviewed an order by the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) which reviewed an order by the city’s mayor mandating all employees be fully vaccinated.

PERC’s order denied in part and granted in part a request the mayor’s order be stopped. The appeals court found in favor of Newark, essentially giving it everything it wanted. Any parts of the PERC order limiting what they could do were overruled. “In short, all restraints imposed by PERC are vacated, and the City can fully implement and enforce its COVID-19 vaccination mandate forthwith,” the decision states.

Mayor Ras J. Baraka issued an executive order on August 10 that all city employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It cited numerous facts about the pandemic, the effects of the infection, and vaccinations.

The order mandates employees show proof of full vaccination. If they’re not fully vaccinated, they must show that’s the case within 30 days. Within that time, they must be tested for COVID-19 weekly at the worker’s expense. The order gives exceptions for religious beliefs and medical reasons. Failing to comply could result in discipline up to termination. Employee unions stated the order was an unfair labor practice.

Even language of the collective bargaining agreement, state labor statutes, and countless legal decisions on public employee-employer relations couldn’t save the unions. “We hold that the City has a non-negotiable managerial prerogative to immediately implement its COVID-19 vaccination mandate,” the decision states.

When there’s a public health emergency, government entities have a right to require vaccinations, according to the decision. Such a public health emergency exists, and the vast majority of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

The unions claimed the mayor couldn’t issue this order without the power to do so explicitly stated in a state statute. The court disagreed. It found:

[T]he City has a well-recognized right to hire or direct its workforce....That right, coupled with the clear national and state public policy to combat the health threats posed by COVID -19, supports the City’s authority to implement a vaccination mandate. In that regard, our Supreme Court has recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic is an extraordinary situation justifying extraordinary responses.

In New Jersey, public employers have a legal right to mandate vaccination. Generally, public employees have greater legal protections than private employees, so it is rational to believe private sector employers’ rights will be similarly upheld. 

Private Employers Have Significant Power to Control the Workplace and Employees

Two federal courts upheld vaccine mandates imposed on private employees at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. A District Court in June upheld the employer’s COVID-19 employee vaccine mandate. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit later affirmed the decision.

A major part of the challenge was that the vaccines were approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration only for emergency use, not finally approved. That’s no longer the case as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received official approval in August.

Judge Lynn Hughes stated the vaccine mandate was like other employee and visitor safety management policies employers can implement. Objecting hospital employees claimed their employer was illegally coercing them to be vaccinated because they would be fired if not. Judge Hughes didn’t see it that way. 

This is not coercion. Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the COVID-19 virus. It is a choice made to keep staff, patients, and their families safer. (The plaintiff) can freely choose to accept or refuse a COVID-19 vaccine; however, if she refuses, she will simply need to work somewhere else…If a worker refuses an assignment, changed office, earlier start time, or other directive, he may be properly fired. Every employment includes limits on the worker’s behavior in exchange for his remuneration. That is all part of the bargain.

If a judge sees a vaccine policy as just another way an employer can manage its facility and employees, the employer will win the case almost all the time. 

Do You Feel Your Employer is Unfairly Forcing You to be Vaccinated?

Contact our Kingston law offices if you have questions or concerns about a vaccination policy or how your disability is not being accommodated. You may reach us online, via email (hisaacs@kingstonlawgroup.com), or by phone (609-683-7400).

We will schedule a near-term, reduced fee, initial consultation. We can be protected by social distance and masks, Zoom, or we can speak on the phone. We take credit card payments and have general appointments from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. We can also schedule evening appointments during the week by pre-arrangement only.

We will listen to your facts, explain the law, and outline your best avenues for full recovery and economic justice. Contact us today. You’ll be glad you did.