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New Laws for 2020: S3170 (New Jersey)


On January 21st, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed S3170 into law, which expands the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act ("NJWARN").

S3170 expands the NJWARN Act by requiring 90 days' advance notice of mass layoffs and plant closings for employers with 100 or more employees.  (The current advance notice requirement is 60 days.)  Of note, the legislation now counts part time workers as part of the 100 or more employees threshold, a change from the current language of the NJWARN Act.  As currently written, to trigger the NJWARN Act, a layoff must result in the discharge of at least 50 employees at the establishment and the discharged employees must make up 33% of the total workforce of the establishment.  S3170 retains the 50 employee threshold but does away with the 33% requirement.

The legislation also requires severance pay to be paid to employees affected by mass layoffs "equal to one week of pay for each full year of employment."  If less than 90 days' notice is provided, discharged employees are to receive an additional four weeks of pay.  (The NJWARN Act only requires employers to pay severance if they did not meet the notice requirement.)

With S3170 set to take effect July 19th, employers in the state would be smart to start taking steps to ensure compliance, given that New Jersey will soon be the first state to guarantee severance as a result of mass layoffs.


For additional information:  https://www.natlawreview.com/article/new-jersey-to-become-first-state-to-guarantee-severance-payments-due-to-mass-layoffs

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