At approximately 4:00 p.m. on July 7, 2024, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department was notified of a missing student from Dartmouth College. The student had last been seen by friends around 9:30 p.m. the previous evening while he was attending an informal social gathering.
The following day, when the student did not show up for an engagement, authorities were made aware of the incident. The student was identified as Won Jang, age 20, of Middletown, Delaware.
Charles Dennis, Chief of Police of the Hanover Police Department, said at approximately 3:15 p.m., the Hanover Police and Fire Departments responded to a report of the missing student around 8 Boathouse Road by the docks on the Connecticut River. Witnesses reported last seeing Won Jang in that area around 9:30 p.m. on July 6. Upon arrival, search and rescue operations were initiated by the Hanover Fire Department Dive Team, assisted by the Lebanon and Hartford Fire Departments. New Hampshire Fish and Game, along with NH Marine Patrol, were notified and responded. Once on scene, NH Fish and Game assumed command of the search operations.
Items found near the dock indicated that Jang hadn’t left the river area. Conservation Officers and officers from NH Marine Patrol began to search the river by boat while the NH Fish and Game ROV/Sonar Team began their search utilizing the remotely operated underwater camera. In addition, the Upper Valley Wilderness Response Team began a search using their drone. At approximately 7:30 p.m., Jang’s body was located approximately 65 feet offshore by the underwater camera not far from the dock where he was last seen.
Advertisement
The Dartmouth, the student newspaper of Dartmouth College reported that Chief Dennis said the Department received an anonymous tip that “there may be some hazing involved.” Dennis added that Hanover Police “will look into that aspect” in their investigation.
The paper also reported that Jang, a biomedical engineering major, was a project manager at the DALI Lab, a research assistant at the Thayer School of Engineering, and a member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, according to an email from College spokesperson Jana Barnello.
“The College has suspended Beta Alpha Omega fraternity and Alpha Phi sorority following the death of Won Jang, College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth. “, said the paper.
Jang’s death marked the second time in recent months that a Dartmouth student had been found dead in the Connecticut River. In a previous case, Lorna Campbell, 22, of Manchester, NH, was discovered deceased in the river in May 2024. Campbell’s disappearance had similarly prompted an extensive search operation involving multiple agencies.
What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim
New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.
Notice compliance
One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.
Advertisement
At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:
• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.
• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.
• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)
Advertisement
Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.
Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)
Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.
Salaried vs. hourly employees
Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.
Advertisement
Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.
Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.
Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.
A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”
Advertisement
Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.
Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.
The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.
As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.
Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.
Advertisement
The newly released photo of Rosalie Miller, 36, who was strangled to death nearly 30 years ago. – Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall
“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
