Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee Statement to Assembly, No. 4682 (June 22, 2023)

Summary

The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee, in a statement dated June 22, 2023, reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4682 (2R). The bill, as amended, establishes employment protections for certain service employees during changes of ownership. It requires a successor employer to retain an affected service employee at a covered location for 60 days or until the service contract is terminated, whichever is earlier. For a first violation, the court may impose a fine not exceeding $2,500 and, for second and subsequent violations, a fine not exceeding $5,000. The committee amendments remove a provision allowing a court to impose imprisonment and shorten the transitional period from 90 days to 60 days.

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ASSEMBLY COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
                COMMITTEE

                          STATEMENT TO

                            [Second Reprint]
                     ASSEMBLY, No. 4682
                         with committee amendments



       STATE OF NEW JERSEY
                             DATED: JUNE 22, 2023

          The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee
      reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No.
      4682 (2R).
          This bill, as amended, establishes employment protections for
      certain service employees during changes of ownership.
          The bill applies to contractors, including subcontractors, who enter
      into a service contract or subcontract if the contractor employs more
      than four service employees anywhere in the United States. The bill
      does not apply to health care entities which are covered by P.L.2022,
      c.101.
          Under the bill, service employees are individuals employed or
      assigned to a covered location on a full or part-time basis for at least
      60 days who are not managerial or professional employees or regularly
      scheduled to work less than 16 hours per week in connection with:
           the care or maintenance of a building or property;
           passenger related security services, cargo related and ramp
              services, in-terminal and passenger handling, and cleaning
              services at an airport; or
           food preparation services at a primary or secondary school, or
              at a tertiary educational institution.
          Service employees covered by the bill do not include employees
      performing work on certain projects requiring local permits.
          The bill covers any location that is: a multi-family residential
      building with more than 50 units; a commercial center or complex or
      an office building or complex occupying more than 100,000 square
      feet; a primary and secondary school, tertiary educational institution; a
      cultural center or complex; an industrial site or pharmaceutical lab; an
      airport and train station; a hospital, nursing care facility, senior care
      centers or other health care provider location; a State court; or a
      warehouse or distribution center.
          The bill requires an authority awarding a service contract, not less
      than 15 days before terminating any service contract or contracting out
                                  2

services previously performed by the covered entity, or selling or
transferring any property where service employees are employed to:
     request certain information from any terminated contractors
        regarding service employees;
     give successor employers information regarding service
        employees;
     provide written notice to collective bargaining representatives
        of the affected service employees of actions affecting their
        employment;
     provide written notice of the actions at the affected work site;
        and
     provide the affected service employees and their collective
        bargaining representative with the name and address of any
        successor employer or the purchaser or transferee of the
        property.
    The bill requires a successor employer to retain an affected service
employee at a covered location for 60 days or until its service contract
is terminated, whichever is earlier. A successor employer may not
reduce any affected service employee's work hours in order to
circumvent the protections of the bill.
    The bill requires a successor employer to give an affected service
employee a written offer of employment and send a copy to the
employee's collective bargaining representative, if any.
    A successor employer may retain less than all of the affected
service employees during the 60-day transition period only if the
successor employer: finds that fewer service employees are required to
perform the work than the predecessor employer had employed;
retains service employees by seniority within each job classification;
maintains a preferential hiring list of those employees not retained; and
hires any additional service employees from the list, in order of
seniority, until all affected service employees have been offered
employment.
    Except as provided above, a successor employer is prohibited from
discharging a service employee retained pursuant to the bill without
just cause during the 60-day transition period.
    These provisions of the bill do not apply if any successor
employer, on or before the termination of the service contract, agrees
to assume, and to be bound by, the collective bargaining agreement of
the awarding authority or contractor, provided that the collective
bargaining agreement provides terms and conditions for the discharge
or laying off of employees.
    A service employee who has been discharged or otherwise not
retained in violation of the provisions of the bill may bring an action in
a court of competent jurisdiction against a successor employer or an
awarding authority. For a first violation, the court may impose a fine
not exceeding $2,500 and, for second and subsequent violations, a fine
                               3

not exceeding $5,000. The court may order restitution and injunctive
relief.
    The bill provides that an offer of employment required to be
provided to an incumbent worker must be substantially similar to a
form provided in the bill.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
    The committee amendments shorten, from 90 days to 60 days, the
period during which the bill’s transitional employment protections
would apply.
    Additionally, the amendments remove from the bill a provision
that otherwise allows a court to impose imprisonment for violating
certain provisions of the bill, and make certain technical changes.


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