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<\/div>\n?A bill advancing in the New Jersey Legislature would expedite the implementation of significant changes to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) law, which requires employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs.<\/p>\n
Back in January 2020, Gov. Philip Murphy signed into law Senate Bill 3170<\/a>, which radically expanded employers’ advance notice and severance pay obligations under the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act, otherwise known as NJ WARN. <\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, which prompted an interest in delaying the implementation of the amendments to NJ WARN. Murphy signed Senate Bill 2353<\/a>, which delayed the effective date of the amendments to 90 days after the termination of Executive Order 103, the governor’s declaration of a state of emergency. <\/p>\n With COVID-19 subsiding, but no foreseeable termination in sight for the emergency declaration, the New Jersey Legislature is working to uncouple the effective date of the 2020 NJ WARN amendments from the emergency declaration. On Oct. 3, lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 3162<\/a>. Under the proposed legislation, the NJ WARN amendments would take effect 90 days after the enactment of the new law, regardless of whether the state of emergency remains in effect. <\/p>\n The amendments would make several very substantial changes to NJ WARN:<\/p>\n On Dec. 1, Senate Bill 3162 was voted out of committee by a 5-0 vote and has since moved to a second reading. It is eligible for posting to the senate floor for a vote, and the next voting session on the calendar is Dec. 22.<\/p>\n\n