Bill Text: NJ A4029 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires employer or contractor engaged in work for public body to register with and submit payroll records to DOLWD.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-26 - Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading [A4029 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4029-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHAVONDA E. SUMTER
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires employer or contractor engaged in work for public body to register with and submit payroll records to DOLWD.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the registration and payroll records of employers engaged in work for a public body and amending P.L.1963, c.150 and P.L.1999, c.238.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1999, c.238 (C.34:11-56.50) is amended to read as follows:
3. As used in chapter 11 of Title 34 of the Revised Statutes:
"Apprenticeship Agreement" means a written agreement, complying with 29 C.F.R. s.29.7, between an apprentice and either the apprentice's program sponsor, or an apprenticeship committee acting as agent for a program sponsor, which contains the terms and conditions of the employment and training of the apprentice.
"Apprenticeship cohort" means the group of individual apprentices registered to a specific individual program during a one-year time frame, except that a cohort does not include the apprentices whose apprenticeship agreement has been cancelled during the probationary period.
"Apprenticeship committee" means those persons designated by the sponsor to administer the program. A committee may be either joint or non-joint, as follows:
(1) A joint committee is composed of an equal number of representatives of the employer or employers and of the employees represented by a bona fide collective bargaining agent or agents.
(2) A non-joint committee, which may also be known as a unilateral or group non-joint committee, has employer representatives, but does not have a bona fide collective bargaining agent as a participant. A non-joint committee may include employees.
"Apprenticeable occupation" means a skilled trade or technical occupation that
is included on the United States Department of Labor's "List of Occupations Officially Recognized as Apprenticeable by the Office of Apprenticeship".
"Apprenticeship program" means a plan containing all terms and conditions for the qualification, recruitment, selection, employment, and training of apprentices, as required under 29 C.F.R. ss.29 and 30, including such matters as the requirement for a written apprenticeship agreement.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development or his duly authorized representatives.
"Completion rate" means the percentage of an apprenticeship cohort who receive a certificate of apprenticeship completion within one year of the projected completion date.
"Contractor" means a person, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, or other legal business entity or successor thereof who enters into a contract which is subject to the provisions of the "New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act," P.L.1963, c.150 (C.34:11-56.25 et seq.), or who is required to pay its workers the prevailing wage by any other provision of law, or who enters into any other contract for work for a public body, and includes any subcontractor or lower tier subcontractor of a contractor as defined herein.
"Department" means the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Worker" includes laborer, mechanic, skilled or semi-skilled laborer and apprentices or helpers employed by any contractor or subcontractor and engaged in the performance of services directly upon a public work, who have completed or are actively participating in a registered apprenticeship program, regardless of whether their work becomes a component part thereof, but does not include material suppliers or their employees who do not perform services at the job site.
"Registered apprenticeship program" or "program" means an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor, which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable occupation, and which involves the attainment of manual, mechanical, or technical skills and knowledge which, in accordance with the industry standard for the specific apprenticeable occupation, are outlined under 29 C.F.R. s.29.5.
"Sponsor" means any person, association, committee, or organization operating an apprenticeship program and in whose name the program is or will be registered or approved.
"Public body" means the State, any of its political subdivisions, any authority created by the Legislature, and any instrumentality or agency of the State or of any of its political subdivisions.
"Work for a public body" means construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration, custom fabrication, duct cleaning, or repair work, or maintenance work, which is done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of the funds of a public body, done on any property or premises owned or leased by the public body or under agreement to be owned or leased by the public body, or undertaken in connection with any loan, loan guarantee, grant, incentive, expenditure, investment, tax exemption or other financial assistance approved, funded, authorized, administered or provided by a public body, or undertaken to fulfill any condition of receiving any of the financial assistance.
(cf:
P.L.2019, c.518, s.1)
2. Section 4 of P.L.1999, c.238 (C.34:11-56.51) is amended to read as follows:
4. No contractor shall bid on any contract for public work as defined in section 2 of P.L.1963, c.150 (C.34:11-56.26), or for which payment of the prevailing wage is required by any other provision of law, or for any other work for a public body unless the contractor is registered pursuant to [this act] P.L.1999, c.238 (C.34:11-56.48 et seq.). No contractor shall list a subcontractor in a bid proposal for the contract unless the subcontractor is registered pursuant to P.L.1999, c.238 (C.34:11-56.48 et seq.) at the time the bid is made. No contractor or subcontractor, including a subcontractor not listed in the bid proposal, shall engage in the performance of any public work subject to the contract, unless the contractor or subcontractor is registered pursuant to that act.
(cf: P.L.2019, c.376, s.2)
3. Section 7 of P.L.1963, c.150 (C.34:11-56.31) is amended to read as follows:
7. The commissioner shall have the authority to:
(a) investigate and ascertain the wages of workmen employed in any public work or other work for a public body in the State;
(b) enter and inspect the place of business or employment of any employer or workmen in any public work or other work for a public body in the State, for the purpose of examining and inspecting any or all books, registers, payrolls, and other records of any such employer that in any way relate to or have a bearing upon the question of wages, hours, and other conditions of employment of any such workmen; copy any or all of such books, registers, payrolls, and other records as he or his authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate; obtain proof of, and question, any worker's identity to determine whether the worker's identity is accurately and truthfully included or reported in any or all books, registers, payrolls, and other records of the employer that in any way relate to or have a bearing upon the question of wages, hours, and other conditions of employment in the public work; and question such workmen for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this act have been and are being complied with;
(c) require from such employer full and correct statements in writing, including sworn statements, with respect to wages, hours, names, addresses, and such other information pertaining to his workmen and their employment as the commissioner, or his authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate; [and]
(d) require any employer to file, within 10 days of receipt of a request, any records enumerated in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, sworn to as to their validity and accuracy. If the employer fails to provide the requested records within 10 days, the commissioner may direct within 15 days the fiscal or financial officer charged with the custody and disbursements of the funds of the public body which contracted for the public work immediately to withhold from payment to the employer up to 25% of the amount, not to exceed $100,000.00, to be paid to the employer under the terms of the contract pursuant to which the public work is being performed. The amount withheld shall be immediately released upon receipt by the public body of a notice from the commissioner indicating that the request for records has been satisfied; and
(e) require any employer or contractor engaged in any work for a public body to file, with the commissioner and the public entity with which the employer or contractor is engaged in work, within 10 days of receipt of a request, any records all books, registers, payrolls, and other records of any such employer or contractor that in any way relate to or have a bearing upon the question of wages, hours, and other conditions of employment of any such workmen, and copies of any or all of such books, registers, payrolls, or other records as the commissioner or the commissioner's authorized representative may deem necessary or appropriate. If the employer fails to provide the requested records within 10 days, the commissioner may direct within 15 days the fiscal or financial officer charged with the custody and disbursements of the funds of the public body which contracted for the public work immediately to withhold from payment to the employer up to 25% of the amount, not to exceed $100,000.00, to be paid to the employer under the terms of the contract pursuant to which the public work is being performed. The amount withheld shall be immediately released upon receipt by the public body of a notice from the commissioner indicating that the request for records has been satisfied.
(cf: P.L.2015, c.281, s.1)
4. This act shall take effect on the 365th day next following enactment, except that the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires any employer or contractor engaged in work for a public body to register with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and submit certified payroll records to the department and to the public entity with which the employer or contractor is engaged to work. Under current law, employers and contractors engaged in public work, or otherwise subject to the State's prevailing wage requirements, are required to register with the State and submit certified payroll records. This bill would require all contractors engaged in work for a public body to register, whether or not that work is subject to the prevailing wage law or constitutes public work under the law.
Under the bill, a "public body" is defined as "the State of New Jersey, any of its political subdivisions, any authority created by the Legislature of the State of New Jersey and any instrumentality or agency of the State of New Jersey or of any of its political subdivisions." The bill defines "work for a public body" as "construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration, custom fabrication, duct cleaning, or repair work, or maintenance work, which is done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of the funds of a public body, done on any property or premises owned or leased by the public body or under agreement to be owned or leased by the public body, or undertaken in connection with any loan, loan guarantee, grant, incentive, expenditure, investment, tax exemption or other financial assistance approved, funded, authorized, administered or provided by a public body, or undertaken to fulfill any condition of receiving any of the financial assistance."
