S2710

An Act concerning the termination or transfer of employer operations and supplementing P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-1 et seq.).

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

1. The public policy of this State, already established by P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-1et seq.), is to provide fair warning to employees regarding the termination of operations in this State or the transfer of operations to another State by their employers. There are many anecdotes relating why people, employers, and businesses cease operations in this State and leave to conduct business in other states. These anecdotes also touch on the reasons why businesses struggle to grow their operations or retain their workforce. However, beyond these anecdotes, there is a dearth of information to help guide the State in understanding and responding to instances in which businesses terminate their operations or transfer their operations to another state. This State must move past anecdote and begin gathering as much data as possible to understand why businesses struggle or fail.

A system of gathering this important data is hereby established so that this State might better understand the reasons for the struggles that businesses face in this State, and potentially to prevent those struggles by enhancing the assistance the State may offer struggling businesses before a cessation of operations or transfer of operations takes place.

2. a. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development shall require every employer required to provide notification pursuant to subsection a. of section 2 of P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-2), concerning a termination of operations or transfer of operations outside of this State, to respond to a survey regarding the reasons for any termination or transfer of operations by the employer. The survey shall be developed by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development in consultation with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The survey shall evaluate the factors that cause employers to cease operations in this State or transfer operations to another state, including, but not limited to, taxes and fees imposed on employers, the cost of living or cost of conducting business, labor costs, labor laws and regulations, environmental laws and regulations, workforce quality, the quality of life for employees, access to transportation and transportation logistics, government intrusion, the cost of health insurance and other types of insurance, the legal system, and access to higher education.

The commissioner shall make the survey available to employers in a written form and the employer responses to the survey shall be in writing and collected by the department. Nothing in this act shall be construed as prohibiting the commissioner from making the survey available to employers in a digital format, or any other format that is conducive to effectively and efficiently obtaining results to the survey from the employers.

b. The commissioner shall annually, on a State fiscal year basis, compile data collected from all surveys conducted pursuant to subsection a. of this section and prepare a report including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) a copy of the survey developed pursuant to subsection a. of this section;

(2) a copy of responses to the survey for every employer; and

(3) an analysis of the survey responses, including any trends or outliers and year-to-year comparison of any trends, and a ranking of the survey responses regarding obstacles to business in this State based on the number of responses for each obstacle.

For purposes of preparing the annual report required pursuant to this subsection, the commissioner shall ensure the anonymity of any employer that provides survey responses. The commissioner shall submit each annual report to the Governor, and to the Legislature as provided under section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), and shall prominently display a link to a digital copy of each annual report on the department’s Internet website. The report shall be submitted as soon after the end of the fiscal year as possible, but no later than October 1 of the following fiscal year.

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill requires the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development to conduct a survey of any employer, subject to notification requirements under P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-1 et seq.) – commonly referred to as the State WARN Act, in deference to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act – that terminates operations or transfers operations outside of this State regarding the reasons for that termination or transfer.

The bill directs the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to create an employer survey in consultation with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. The survey must be available to employers in a written form and the employer responses to the survey must be in writing, or any other form that is conducive to obtaining results to the survey, with the results to be collected by the department.

The bill also requires the commissioner to annually prepare a report to provide an analysis of the survey responses. For purposes of preparing the annual report, the commissioner must ensure the anonymity of any employer that provides responses to the survey. The annual report must be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature and a link to a digital copy of the report must be prominently displayed on the department’s Internet website.