Two Years Later: New Jersey’s Governor Extends “Emergency” Powers Again, Further Delaying Effective Date of Extreme NJ WARN Amendments

As many New Jersey employers know, New Jersey’s “Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act” (“NJ WARN”) was amended twice in 2020. The original January 21, 2020 amendments (“January 2020 Amendments”) contained sweeping changes to NJ WARN, but were put on hold as of April 14, 2020, for the duration of New Jersey’s Executive Order 103, which declared both a Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency due to COVID-19. The effective date of the January 2020 Amendments was moved to a date 90 days following termination of Executive Order 103, including both the Public Health Emergency and the State of Emergency.

In a move to rebuff the NJ Legislature’s January 2022 attempt to limit his emergency powers, on January 11, 2022, Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 280 (EO 280), which again declared a Public Health Emergency relating to COVID-19 and confirmed the existing State of Emergency across New Jersey.  Executive Order 280 specifically notes that the State of Emergency declared in Executive Order No. 103 remains in full force and effect. It follows that the January 2020 Amendments remain on ice until at least 90 days after the date the State of Emergency originally announced by Executive Order 103 is declared over.  It is unclear if the new Public Health Emergency impacts the effective date of NJ WARN in any manner.

As this firm covered extensively over the last year (here, here, here, here, here, and lastly, here), Governor Murphy signed into law Senate Bill 3170 on January 21, 2020, modifying NJ WARN with extensive changes, including mandatory severance for layoffs of 50 or more employees within a 30-day period. The law was scheduled to go into effect on July 19, 2020, 180 days after the date of its enactment. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Governor and the NJ Legislature to reconsider this timing. In response to the crisis and ballooning layoffs, the NJ Legislature passed S. 2353 on April 14, 2020, which contained an additional amendment to NJ WARN made retroactive to March 9, 2020, that worked to alleviate employer mass layoff notice requirements and postpone the effective date of the extensive January 2020 Amendments from July 19, 2020 to 90 days following termination of Executive Order 103. While the pause continues, neither the NJ Legislature, nor the Governor has undertaken a re-examination of the many inconsistencies, vagaries, and potential long term impacts of the January 2020 Amendments during this two year delay.  In addition, the New Jersey Department of Labor has not released an updated version of the required NJ WARN notice during this time. 

Attached here for convenience is a redlined version of the amended law showing all changes to the 2007 statute.  For a more comprehensive analysis of these changes, please see our earlier alert which contained a complete review of all NJ WARN amendments approved in 2020.