Below are several New Jersey employment law developments affecting nonprofits.
New Mandatory Hiring Preference for Employees Injured on the Job
As of September 24, 2021, a new law requires that all New Jersey employers “provide a hiring preference to an employee who has [suffered a work-related injury, has] reached maximum medical improvement[,] and is unable to return to the position at which the employee was previously employed for any existing, unfilled position offered by the employer for which the employee can perform the essential duties of the position.” For an overview of this new law and some of the difficult issues it left unaddressed, see the following article from our partners at Morgan Lewis: NJ Workers’ Comp Law Requires Employers to Give Hiring Preference to Previously Injured Employees.
Cannabis Regulations Issued
On February 22, 2021, Governor Murphy signed into law the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (CREAMMA). The Act legalizes recreational cannabis in the Garden State and sets forth significant workplace restrictions with respect to (1) testing employees in order to determine if they are under the influence of illegal substances at work, (2) taking adverse actions against lawful users of cannabis, and (3) conducting background checks.
The following linked article, from our partners at Jackson Lewis, outlines New Jersey’s Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act and CREAMMA, explains how the two laws interact, and provides practical considerations to help employers navigate the compliance requirements of these laws. Please see: New Jersey’s Cannabis Laws: A Workplace Overview.
New Jersey Minimum Wage Going Up on January 1, 2022 and Reminder Regarding Required Notices/Posters
In case you missed our legal alert last week on these topics, you can read it here.
Other Revised Publications on Our Website
We recently updated the following articles on our website. If you have never heard of the mandatory NJ Form BC-10, please be sure to read the first article below.
- New Jersey Employers May Be Penalized for Failure to Timely and Adequately Respond to Informational Requests from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Employers’ Duty to Give Unemployed Employees Form BC-10
- New Jersey Employers May Not Retaliate Against Employees Who Request Certain Information from Other Employees
- New Jersey Law Restricts Employers’ Access to Private Social Media Accounts of Employees and Job Applicants
- New Jersey SAFE Act: Unpaid Leave for Victims of Domestic or Sexual Violence
- Nonunion Employees Are Protected by the National Labor Relations Act
Questions?
If you have questions about any of the topics above, please contact Christine Michelle Duffy, Esq., in our Parsippany office, at cduffy@probonopartner.org or 973-240-6955 ext. 303.
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This document is provided as a general informational service to volunteers, clients, and friends of Pro Bono Partnership. It should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal advice on any specific matter, nor does distribution of this document create an attorney-client relationship.