SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1717

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

      The Senate Labor Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1717.

      As amended by the committee, this bill prohibits an employer from taking any adverse employment actions against an employee who is unable to actively work or perform regular duties at the employer’s place of business due to a declared state of emergency.  The bill also prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to use any sick, personal, or other leave, paid or unpaid, for an absence from work due to a state of emergency.

      The bill prohibits an employer from discharging from employment or taking any other adverse action against an employee with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or other privileges of employment because the employee does not actively work and perform all regular duties at the employer’s place of business due to a state of emergency during the time in which the state of emergency is in effect and applies to the areas where the employee lives or works and emergency management officials have advised individuals in those areas to evacuate or to not travel.  The bill does not require an employer to pay any employee who is not actively working.

      The bill requires an employee who is unable to work due to a state of emergency to make every possible effort to notify the employer of the absence and return to work as soon as possible, but not later than the first shift or regularly scheduled work hours occurring after the declaration of the state of emergency is rescinded, or after an emergency management official has deemed the situation to be safe, whichever occurs first.

      The bill also provides that an employer who violates the provisions of the bill will be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation.

      Finally, the bill defines “employee” to exclude physicians or other medical personnel or other personnel required to maintain essential healthcare services; “employer” as an employer or employer’s agent, representative, or designee, but not any: public safety agency or any contractor of the agency that contracts to provide emergency repair, street clearing or other emergency services; contractor that contracts with private facility owners to provide street clearing for those facilities; licensed health care facilities; and not any public utility or public utility contractor; “public safety agency” as a division of a municipality, a county, or the State which dispatches, provides, or contracts to obtain, law enforcement, fire fighting, emergency medical services, or other emergency services; and “state of emergency” as a natural or man-made disaster or emergency for which a state of emergency has been declared by the Governor.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The amendments adopted by the committee:

      1.   Exclude from coverage by the bill medical personnel and other personnel required to maintain essential healthcare services, whether or not they work for public safety agencies;

      2.   Exclude from coverage by the bill contractors who contract with public safety agencies to provide emergency repair, street clearing or other emergency services;

      3.   Exclude from coverage by the bill contractors who contract with owners of private facilities to provide street clearing for those facilities;

      4.   Exclude from coverage by the bill licensed health care facilities;

      5.   Exclude from coverage by the bill public utilities and contractors of public utilities;

      6.   Have the bill’s requirements apply only in a state of emergency declared by the Governor, and exclude a state of emergency declared by a municipal emergency management coordinator;

      7.   Have the bill apply only when the State of emergency applies to the areas where the employee lives or works and only when emergency management officials have advised individuals in those areas to evacuate or to not travel; and

      8.   Require an employee to return to work as soon as an emergency management official has deemed the situation to be safe, if that occurs before the state of emergency is rescinded.