Sponsored by:
Senator NELLIE POU
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits consumer reporting agencies from making reports containing adverse information related to employees affected by federal government shutdown.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Commerce Committee on March 4, 2019, with amendments.
An Act concerning consumer reporting agencies and supplementing P.L.1997, c.172 (C.56:11-28 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. 1(1)1 No consumer reporting agency shall include any adverse information that is a result of 1[the] a1 federal government shutdown in a consumer report pertaining to an affected employee who provides the agency with notice pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
1(2) No user of a consumer report shall consider any adverse information that is a result of a federal government shutdown in a consumer report pertaining to an affected employee who provides the user with notice pursuant to subsection b. of this section.1
b. (1) An affected employee may contact any consumer reporting agency and request that the agency disregard any adverse information related to the employee obtained by the agency 1[for the period beginning on December 22, 2018 and ending on March 1, 2019] with respect to a period beginning on the first day of any federal government shutdown and extending 90 days following the end of that federal government shutdown1. The employee shall include in the request a copy of proof of employment as an affected employee. In the case of an affected employee that is employed by a contractor with the federal government, the proof of employment shall include documentation that the employee’s pay was suspended during the federal government shutdown.
(2) Any consumer reporting agency that receives a request pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall respond to the affected employee and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety within 1[5] five1 days of receiving the request.
1(3) An affected employee may contact any user of a consumer report and request that the user disregard any adverse information related to the employee in a consumer report with respect to a period beginning on the first day of any federal government shutdown and extending 90 days following the end of that federal government shutdown. The employee shall include in the request a copy of proof of employment as an affected employee. In the case of an affected employee that is employed by a contractor with the federal government, the proof of employment shall include documentation that the employee’s pay was suspended during the federal government shutdown.
(4) Any user of a consumer report that receives a request pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection shall respond to the affected employee and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety within five days of receiving the request.1
c. No charge shall be imposed by a consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 10 of P.L.1997, c.172 (C.56:11-37) with respect to a request made by a consumer pursuant to this section.
d. As used in this section:
"Affected employee" means a federal employee who, during 1[the] a1 federal government shutdown, is a resident of this State, and has been required to work as a federal employee without pay or has been furloughed as a federal employee without pay. "Affected employee" also means an employee of a contractor with the federal government whose pay was suspended during 1[the] a1 federal government shutdown as a result of that shutdown.
“Federal government shutdown” means 1[the] any1 federal 1[fiscal year 2019 partial]1 government shutdown that began on 1or begins after1 December 22, 2018.
1“User of a consumer report” means any person or entity that is furnished a consumer report for a purpose that is permissible pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1997, c.172 (C.56:11-31).1
2. This act shall take effect immediately and be retroactive to December 22, 2018.