Fraud and Misrepresentation

Employment law fraud can occur when an employer lies or otherwise misleads you to convince you to accept a job offer or not to accept a job offer from someone else.

Unfortunately, fraud can be difficult to prove, but is not uncommon. For example, an employer might promise you a particular salary, job title and level of support, or might provide you misinformation about the company’s profits and stability. Based on these types of misrepresentations, employees might 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 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 false statement or 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, an overly optimistic forecast or opinion, or some degree of puffery would not be legally actionable as fraud.

Further, to establish this legal claim 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.

An individual who has a fraud or misrepresentation claim often will also have a claim for breach of an employment contract. In particular, there might be a related claim for breach of an oral agreement.

If you have been the victim of employment fraud in New Jersey, or if you are trying to negotiate a 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 one of our experienced New Jersey employment fraud attorneys, you can either contact us online or call us at (201) 777-2250. Our office is located in Bergen County at 135 Chestnut Ridge Road, Suite 230, Montvale, New Jersey. We are only a few minutes from Garden State Parkway exit 172.

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