A1044 3R

An Act concerning prenotification of certain plant closings³, transfers and mass layoffs³ and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. As used in this act:

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.

"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

"Employer" means an individual or private business entity which employs the workforce at an establishment.

"Establishment" means a single place of employment which has been operated by an employer for a period longer than three years, but shall not include a temporary construction site. ³“Establishment” may be a single location or a group of contiguous locations, including groups of facilities which form an office or industrial park or separate facilities just across the street from each other.

“Facility” means a building.³

²"Full-time employee" means an employee who is not a part-time employee.

"Mass layoff" means a reduction in force which is not the result of a transfer or termination of operations and which results in the termination of employment at an establishment during any 30-day period for 500 or more full-time employees or for 50 or more of the full-time employees representing one third or more of the full-time employees at the establishment.

³”Operating unit” means an organizationally distinct product, operation, or specific work function within or across facilities at a single establishment.³

"Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than six of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required pursuant to this act.²

"Response team" means the plant closing response team established pursuant to section 5 of this act.

"Termination of employment" means the layoff of an employee without a commitment to reinstate the employee to his previous employment within six months of the layoff, except that "termination of employment" shall not mean ²a voluntary departure or retirement or a discharge or suspension for misconduct of the employee connected with the employment or² any layoff of a seasonal employee or refer to any situation in which an employer offers to an employee, at a location inside the State and not more than 50 miles from the previous place of employment, the same employment or a position with equivalent status, benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment¹, and, except that a layoff of more than six months which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of six months or less, shall not be treated as a termination of employment under this act if the extension beyond six months is caused by business circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial layoff, and notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension beyond six months will be required¹.

"Termination of operations" means the ³[termination of all or a portion of the operations conducted in an] permanent or temporary shutdown of a single³ establishment³, or of one or more facilities or operating units within a single establishment³, except ³[for] that “termination of operations” shall not include³ a termination of operations made necessary because of a ²[court order, including bankruptcy,]² fire, flood, natural disaster, national emergency, act of war, civil disorder or industrial sabotage¹, decertification from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as provided under Titles XVIII and XIX of the federal "Social Security Act," ²[P.L.] Pub.L.² 74-271 (42 U.S.C. s.1395 et seq.) or license revocation pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.)¹.

"Transfer of operations" means the ³permanent or temporary³ transfer of ³[all or a portion of the operations conducted in an] a single³ establishment³, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single establishment,³ to another location, inside or outside of this State.

2. If an establishment is subject to a transfer of operations or a termination of operations which results, during any continuous period of not more than ¹[180] ²[90¹] 30² days, in the termination of employment of 50 or more ²full-time² employees, ²or if an employer conducts a mass layoff,² the employer who operates the establishment ²or conducts the mass layoff² shall:

a. Provide, in the case of an employer who employs ¹[200] ²[50¹] 100² or more ²full-time² employees, not less than ¹[180] 90¹ days before the first termination of employment occurs in connection with the termination or transfer of operations, ¹[or, in the case of an employer who employs more than 49 and less than 200 employees, not less than 90 days before the first termination of employment occurs in connection with the termination or transfer of operations,]¹ ²or mass layoff,² notification of the termination or transfer of operations ²or mass layoff² to the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, the chief elected official of the municipality where the establishment is located, each employee whose employment is to be terminated and any collective bargaining units of employees at the establishment;

b. Provide to each ²full-time² employee whose employment is terminated and to whom the employer provides less than the number of days of notification required pursuant to subsection a. of this section, severance pay equal to one week of pay for each ²full² year of employment. The rate of severance pay provided by the employer pursuant to this subsection b. shall be ¹[one-half of]¹ the average regular rate of compensation received during the employee's last three years of employment with the employer or ¹[one-half of]¹ the final regular rate of compensation paid to the employee, whichever rate is higher. The severance pay provided by the employer pursuant ²to² this subsection b. shall be in addition to any severance pay provided by the employer pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or for any other reason, except that any back pay provided by the employer to the employee pursuant to section 5 of the "Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act," Pub.L.100-379 (29 U.S.C. ¹[§] s.¹2104), because of a violation of section 3 of that act (29 U.S.C. ¹[§] s.¹ 2102) shall be credited toward meeting the severance pay requirements of this subsection b.; ²and²

c. Provide the response team with the amount of on-site work-time access to the employees of the establishment that the response team determines is necessary for the response team to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to section 5 of this act.

²In determining whether a termination or transfer of operations or a mass layoff is subject to the notification requirements of this section, any terminations of employment for two or more groups at a single establishment occurring within any 90-day period, when each group has less than the number of terminations which would trigger the notification requirements of this section but the aggregate for all of the groups exceeds that number, shall be regarded as subject to the notification requirements unless the employer demonstrates that the cause of the terminations for each group is separate and distinct from the causes of the terminations for the other group or groups.²

3. The notification provided pursuant to subsection a. of section 2 of this act shall include:

a. A statement of the number of employees whose employment will be terminated in connection with the ²mass layoff or² transfer or termination of operations of the establishment, the date or dates on which the ²mass layoff or² transfer or termination of operations and each termination of employment will occur;

b. A statement of the reasons for the ²mass layoff or² transfer or termination of operations;

c. A statement of any employment available to employees at any other establishment operated by the employer, and information regarding the benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of that employment and the location of the other establishment;

d. A statement of any employee rights with respect to wages, severance pay, benefits, pension or other terms of employment as they relate to the termination, including, but not limited to, any rights based on a collective bargaining agreement or other existing employer policy;

e. A disclosure of the amount of the severance pay which is payable pursuant to the provisions of subsection b. of section 2 of this act; and

f. A statement of the employees' right to receive from the response team, pursuant to subsection c. of section 2 and subsection a. of section 5 of this act, information, referral and counseling regarding: public programs which may make it possible to delay or prevent the transfer or termination of operations ²or mass layoff²; public programs and benefits to assist the employees; and employee rights based on law.

The notification shall be in writing and, after the commissioner has made a form for the notification available to employers, provided on that form. The commissioner shall make the form available to employers not more than 90 days following the effective date of this act.

4. This act shall not be construed as limiting or modifying any provision of a collective bargaining agreement which requires notification, severance payment or other benefits on terms which are more favorable to employees than those required by this act.

5. a. There is established, in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, a response team. The purpose of the response team is to provide appropriate information, referral and counseling, as rapidly as possible, to workers who are subject to plant closings or mass layoffs.

b. In the case of each transfer or termination of the operations in an establishment which results in the termination of 50 or more employees, the response team shall:

(1) Offer to meet with the representatives of the management of the establishment to discuss available public programs which may make it possible to delay or prevent the transfer or termination of operations, including economic development incentive and workforce development programs;

(2) Meet on site with workers and provide information, referral and counseling regarding:

(a) Available public programs which may make it possible to delay or prevent the transfer or termination of operations, including economic development incentive and workforce development programs;

(b) Public programs or benefits which may be available to assist the employees, including, but not limited to, unemployment compensation benefits, job training or retraining programs, and job search assistance; and

(c) Employee rights based on this act or any other law which applies to the employees with respect to wages, severance pay, benefits, pensions or other terms of employment as they relate to the termination of employment; and

(3) Seek to facilitate cooperation between representatives of the management and employees at the establishment to most effectively utilize available public programs which may make it possible to delay or prevent the transfer or termination of operations or to assist employees if it is not possible to prevent the termination.

6. An aggrieved employee or former employee or his authorized representative may file a complaint with the department or initiate suit in Superior Court under this act either individually or on behalf of employees or former employees affected by a violation of the provisions of this act. If an action is undertaken on behalf of affected employees or former employees, the party initiating the action shall inform the department, which shall notify each affected employee or former employee. If the department or the court finds the employer has violated the provisions of this act, it shall award to the aggrieved present or former employees: costs of the action, including reasonable attorneys' fees; compensatory damages, including lost wages, benefits and other remuneration. Any award of compensatory damages for lost wages shall be limited to the amount of severance pay required pursuant to subsection b. of section 2 of this act.

³7. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act.”³

³[7.] 8.³ This act shall take effect immediately.