Articles Discussing Unemployment Insurance In New Jersey.

Executive Summary: A bill which would expand existing laws to prohibit discrimination against the unemployed is progressing in the New Jersey state legislature, having been approved by the Senate and reported favorably out of the Assembly Labor Committee as amended. Existing law makes it unlawful to state in a job posting that current employment is required for hire. The bill would expand this law to expressly prohibit discrimination against the unemployed in decisions related to hiring, compensation, and terms, conditions or privileges of employment, but would not create a private right of action for aggrieved applicants.

On August 19, 2013, New Jersey enacted legislation implementing the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act, which penalizes employers who fail to timely respond to requests for information from state unemployment offices. The legislation amends New Jersey’s Unemployment Compensation Law and is designed to ensure that employers respond promptly to requests for information concerning unemployment and temporary disability claims. Pursuant to the new legislation, if (1) the Division of Unemployment and Temporary Disability Insurance (the Division) makes an error in paying a benefit because an employer failed to respond in a timely and adequate manner to a request from the Division for information relating to the claim, and (2) an employer has established a pattern of failing to respond to such requests, then the Division cannot relieve the employer’s account of the erroneously charged benefit payments. The law applies to benefit payments made on or after October 22, 2013.

When natural disaster strikes New Jersey, the Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program provides unemployment benefits to individuals who live or work in affected areas of New Jersey and become unemployed as a result of the damage. The process begins with the Governor making a request to the Department for Labor to make the benefits available to individuals in qualifying counties of the state. Upon approval by the DOL, individuals who do not qualify for regular unemployment insurance may obtain those benefits through the program. After the initial approval by the DOL, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may approve additional counties for the special benefits program. Prior to Hurricane Sandy, the benefits were last made available after Hurricane Irene in 2011.

A new New Jersey law prohibits employers in the state from publishing job advertisements, in print or on the Internet, that exclude unemployed individuals from applying. This makes New Jersey the first state to enact an explicit prohibition against such limiting language. The legislation, effective June 1, 2011, provides a penalty for employers that “knowingly and purposefully” publish advertisements excluding unemployed individuals from consideration for a position.