Bill Text: NJ S1054 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits employers from requiring applicants to disclose prior criminal convictions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-02-04 - Withdrawn from Consideration [S1054 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1054-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits employers from requiring applicants to disclose prior criminal convictions.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning post-conviction job applicants and supplementing P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-12).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. No public or private employer shall require a person to disclose, in an application for employment, whether the person has been convicted of a crime in this State or any substantially similar offense under the laws of another state or the United States. Nothing herein shall be construed to exempt a person from undergoing a criminal history record background check otherwise required by law as a condition of employment.
2. A person who violates the provisions of this act shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and not more than $20,000 for a subsequent offense brought by the Division of Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the 13th month following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit public and private employers from requiring applicants to disclose whether they had previously been convicted of a crime. The bill would not prohibit criminal background checks otherwise required by law.
The penalty for a violation would be a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for a first offense and not more than $20,000 for a subsequent offense.
