ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 5840

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 12, 2019

      The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5840, with committee amendments.

      This bill makes any client employer and any labor contractor providing workers to the client employer subject to joint and several liability and shared civil legal responsibility for any violations of the provisions of State employer tax laws, including provisions of those laws concerning the misclassification of workers.  “State employer tax laws” are identified as the workers’ compensation law, R.S.34:15-1 et seq., the “unemployment compensation law,” R.S.43:21-1 et seq., the “Temporary Disability Benefits Law,” P.L.1948, c.110 (C.43:21-25 et al.), P.L.2008, c.17 (C.43:21-39.1 et al.), and the “New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act,” N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq.

      The bill also provides that any person acting on behalf of an employer, including a client employer or labor contractor, who violates any provision of those laws, or State wage and hour laws, may be held liable, as the employer, for the violation.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to provide that the term “client employer” as used in the bill does not include a business which is defined as a “contractor” in “The Public Works Contractor Registration Act,” P.L.1999, c.238 (C.34:11-56.48 et seq.). 

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill is not certified as requiring a fiscal note.