Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires prenotification of mass layoffs by holding company or franchisor at multiple franchise locations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning prenotification of certain plant closings, transfers and mass layoffs and amending P.L.2007, c.212.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-1) is amended to read as follows:
1. As used in this act:
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Employer" means an individual or private business entity which employs the workforce at an establishment. "Employer" includes a holding company or franchisor which operates one or more franchise locations, and all of the franchise location owners or franchisees of the franchisor.
"Establishment" means a single place of employment which has been operated by an employer for a period longer than three years, but shall not include a temporary construction site. "Establishment" may be a single location or a group of contiguous locations, including groups of facilities which form an office or industrial park or separate facilities just across the street from each other, or one or more franchise locations of a franchisor.
"Facility" means a building.
"Franchise location" means an establishment operated by a franchisee of a common franchisor, which establishment may share a common name or business model with one or more other franchise locations of a common franchisor.
"Full-time employee" means an employee who is not a part-time employee.
"Mass layoff" means a reduction in force which is not the result of a transfer or termination of operations and which results in the termination of employment at an establishment during any 30-day period for 500 or more full-time employees or for 50 or more of the full-time employees representing one third or more of the full-time employees at the establishment.
"Operating unit" means an organizationally distinct product, operation, or specific work function within or across facilities at a single establishment.
"Part-time employee" means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than 20 hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than six of the 12 months preceding the date on which notice is required pursuant to this act.
"Response team" means the plant closing response team established pursuant to section 5 of this act.
"Termination of employment" means the layoff of an employee without a commitment to reinstate the employee to his previous employment within six months of the layoff, except that "termination of employment" shall not mean a voluntary departure or retirement or a discharge or suspension for misconduct of the employee connected with the employment or any layoff of a seasonal employee or refer to any situation in which an employer offers to an employee, at a location inside the State and not more than 50 miles from the previous place of employment, the same employment or a position with equivalent status, benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment, and, except that a layoff of more than six months which, at its outset, was announced to be a layoff of six months or less, shall not be treated as a termination of employment under this act if the extension beyond six months is caused by business circumstances not reasonably foreseeable at the time of the initial layoff, and notice is given at the time it becomes reasonably foreseeable that the extension beyond six months will be required.
"Termination of operations" means the permanent or temporary shutdown of a single establishment, or of one or more facilities or operating units within a single establishment, except that "termination of operations" shall not include a termination of operations made necessary because of a fire, flood, natural disaster, national emergency, act of war, civil disorder or industrial sabotage, decertification from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as provided under Titles XVIII and XIX of the federal "Social Security Act," Pub.L.74-271 (42 U.S.C. s.1395 et seq.) or license revocation pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.).
"Transfer of operations" means the permanent or temporary transfer of a single establishment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single establishment, to another location, inside or outside of this State.
(cf: P.L.2007, c.212, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill revises the definition section of the "Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act," P.L.2007, c.212 (C.34:21-1 et seq.), also known as New Jersey's "Warn Act," to broaden the scope of that act to include one or more franchise locations of a franchisor or holding company. In so doing, the bill intends to bring mass layoff or termination of employment at more than one franchise location within the purview of the act.