NJ Employers Receive Some – Albeit Incomplete – Guidance Regarding Unemployment Insurance Reporting Obligations

Seyfarth Synopsis: While the New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Law amendments take effect July 31, 2023, New Jersey employers are still waiting for the state to publish new submission documents and instructions.  The state did publish some guidance and underscored the rollout remains a work in progress less than a week before the compliance deadline takes effect.

We previously discussed the upcoming changes to New Jersey’s Unemployment Compensation Law here.  While the Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s Division of Unemployment Insurance (“LWD”) has still not issued the new form nor submission instructions as of this writing, LWD did release some guidance for employers. 

The Department notes here that a business should create an “Employer Access” account to allow the employer to “provide an email address to correspond electronically with NJDOL’s Divisions of Employer Accounts and Unemployment Insurance as required by [the statutory amendments].”  Along those lines, the FAQs on the same webpage note that the new law will “require employers and the Division of Unemployment Insurance to conduct all communication electronically.”  The FAQs also provide that an employer “should create an account with Employer Access as soon as possible. After you create an account, you will continue to receive updates from NJDOL’s Unemployment Insurance Division via email.”

Nonetheless, the FAQs underscore that this all remains a work in progress by stating:  (1) “Guidance on electronic submission of information on employee separation, receipt of determinations, and filing or responding to Unemployment Insurance appeals, among others, is forthcoming”; and (2) “While the law takes effect July 31, 2023, NJDOL is still developing the new infrastructure that will enable this new requirement. More information will be provided about this requirement when the new feature becomes available.”

In the meantime, while we wait for this additional information, the state strongly recommends employers create an Employer Access account if they had not done so previously (if they have, “no additional action is needed” at this time per the FAQs). 

Feel free to reach out to any of the authors of this alert – or your regular Seyfarth contact – with any questions.