SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY, No. 1094

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 17, 2019

      The Senate Labor Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1094 (ACS).

      This bill makes it an unlawful employment practice for any employer:

      (1)  to screen a job applicant based on the applicant’s salary history, including, but not limited to, the applicant’s prior wages, salaries or benefits; or

      (2)  to require that the applicant’s salary history satisfy any minimum or maximum criteria.

      Under the bill, an employer may:

      (1)  consider salary history in determining salary, benefits, and other compensation for the applicant, and may verify the applicant’s salary history, if an applicant voluntarily, without employer prompting or coercion, provides the employer with that salary history.  An applicant’s refusal to volunteer compensation information may not be considered in any employment decisions; and

      (2)  request that an applicant provide the employer with a written authorization to confirm salary history, including, but not limited to, the applicant’s compensation and benefits, after an offer of employment, which offer includes an explanation of the overall compensation package, has been made to the applicant.

      The bill does not apply to:

      (1)  applications for internal transfer or promotion with an employee’s current employer, or use by the employer of previous knowledge obtained as a consequence of prior employment with the employer;

      (2)  any actions taken by an employer pursuant to any federal law or regulation that expressly requires the disclosure or verification of salary history for employment purposes, or requires knowledge of salary history to determine an employee’s compensation;

      (3)  any attempt by an employer to obtain, or verify a job applicant’s disclosure of, non-salary related information when conducting a background check on the job applicant, provided that, when requesting information for the background check, the employer shall specify that salary history information is not to be disclosed.  If, notwithstanding that specification, salary history information is disclosed, the employer shall not retain that information or consider it when determining the salary, benefits, or other compensation of the applicant; or

      (4)  employer inquiries regarding an applicant’s previous experience with incentive and commission plans and the terms and conditions of the plans, provided that the employer shall not seek or require the applicant to report information about the amount of earnings of the applicant in connection with the plans, and that the employer shall not make any inquiry regarding the applicant’s previous experience with incentive and commission plans unless the employment opening with the employer includes an incentive or commission component as part of the total compensation program.

      An employer who violates these provisions will be liable for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second violation, and $10,000 for each subsequent violation collectible by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development in a summary proceeding pursuant to the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999.”

      If an employee is a member of a protected class, an employer who violates the provisions of the bill will be subject to certain penalties under the “Law Against Discrimination.”  However, the bill clarifies that certain remedies available with other claims in the “Law Against Discrimination,” including punitive damages, will not be available to persons aggrieved by the provisions of the bill.