Bill Text: NJ A4976 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns health insurance benefits for locked-out workers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-06-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee [A4976 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A4976-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ERIC HOUGHTALING
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns health insurance benefits for locked-out workers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning health insurance benefits for locked-out workers and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development a nonlapsing, revolving fund to be known as the Working Family Health Security Fund. The fund shall be administered by the commissioner, and shall be credited with moneys received pursuant to section 3 of this act. The moneys in the fund shall be invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury as are other trust funds in the custody of the State Treasurer in the manner provided by law. Interest received on the moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
b. The purpose of the fund is to administer assistance in the form of the moneys needed for individuals to pay for continuation coverage under the COBRA continuation provision under the following circumstances:
(1) the individual is an employee of an employer that provides a health benefits plan to its employees in this State, including the individual;
(2) the health insurance coverage for the individual is being discontinued by the employer because of a stoppage of work which exists because of a labor dispute at the factory, establishment, or other premises at which the employee is or was last employed and the employer has prevented the employee from working, even though the employee's recognized or certified majority representative has directed the employees in the collective bargaining unit to work under the preexisting terms and conditions of employment, and the employees had not engaged in a strike immediately before being prevented from working; and
(3) the individual files an application on a form provided by the commissioner demonstrating the individual meets the requirements of this act to qualify for the assistance.
c. The employer shall provide the commissioner with all information, including information regarding costs of the health insurance coverage, deemed necessary by the commissioner to implement the provisions of this act, and shall comply with the directives of the commissioner regarding the timely facilitation of the COBRA extension.
d. Payments by the fund shall be discontinued whenever the work stoppage is ended.
2. For the purpose of providing the moneys necessary to establish and meet the purposes of the fund, there is established a five cent annual surcharge per employee for all employers who are subject to the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq., except that the surcharge shall not be collected during any year for which the balance of the fund was more than $5 million as of September 1 of the immediately preceding year. The surcharge shall be collected by the controller for the unemployment compensation fund and paid over to the State Treasurer for deposit in the fund annually.
3. As used in this act:
"Carrier" means an entity that contracts or offers to contract to provide, deliver, arrange for, pay for, or reimburse any of the costs of health care services under a health benefits plan, including: an insurance company authorized to issue health benefits plans; a health maintenance organization; a health, hospital, or medical service corporation; a multiple employer welfare arrangement; an entity providing or administering a self-funded health benefits plan; an entity under contract with the State Health Benefits Program and the School Employees' Health Benefits Program to administer a health benefits plan; or any other entity providing a health benefits plan.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Fund" means the Working Family Health Security Fund established by this act.
"Health benefits plan" means a benefits plan which pays or provides hospital and medical expense benefits for covered services, and is delivered or issued for delivery in this State by or through a carrier.
4. In accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), the commissioner, in consultation with the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this act.
5. This act shall take effect 90 days after its enactment, except that the commissioner shall have power immediately to promulgate rules and regulations, appoint officers and employees, and fix their compensation, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act, and do those other things necessary to enforce the provisions of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes, in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, a nonlapsing, revolving fund called the "Working Family Health Security Fund" for the purpose of providing assistance in the form of the moneys needed for individuals to pay for continuation coverage under the COBRA continuation provision under the following circumstances:
1. The individual is an employee of an employer that provides a health benefits plan to its employees in this State, including the individual;
2. The health insurance coverage for the individual is being discontinued by the employer because of a lockout, that is a stoppage of work due to a labor dispute at the employee's workplace and the employer has prevented the employee from working, even though the employee's union has directed the employees in the collective bargaining unit to work under the preexisting terms and conditions of employment, and the employees had not engaged in a strike immediately before being prevented from working; and
3. The individual files an application on a form provided by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development demonstrating the individual meets the requirements of the bill to qualify for the assistance.
The bill provides that payments by the fund are to be discontinued whenever the lockout is ended.
The employer is required to provide the commissioner with all information, including information regarding costs of the health insurance coverage, deemed necessary by the commissioner and to comply with the directives of the commissioner regarding the timely facilitation of the COBRA extension.
The fund would be supported by a five cent annual surcharge per employee for all employers who are subject to the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq., provided that the surcharge would not be collected during any year for which the balance of the Working Family Health Security Fund was more than $5 million as of September 1 of the immediately preceding year.
