UPDATE: Evaluating New Jersey’s New WARN Amendments and Urging the State to Suspend the Effective Date

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UPDATE: On April 9, 2020, Senator Joseph Cryan introduced S. 2353  containing proposed amendments to NJ WARN in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These amendments (if passed) will modify the amendments (S.3170) recently signed into law by Governor Murphy on January 21, 2020.

Our previous alert analyzing the January 21, 2020 NJ WARN amendments highlighted some of the challenges employers would face in attempting to comply with the restrictions mandated by the recently enacted legislation, while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. We also commented on concerns about its effective date of July 19, 2020 and the need for clarification of multiple provisions in the law.

The Senate’s newly proposed amendments would exclude COVID-19 related layoffs from coverage under the severance provisions of NJ WARN, and would also add a new national emergency/natural disaster mass layoff exclusion going forward. The amendments would also change the effective date of the January 21, 2020 amendment to 90 days after the date that the Governor of New Jersey lifts the State of Emergency announced in Executive Order 103.

Importantly, the amendments exempting COVID-19 mass layoffs from the statute would be retroactive to March 9, 2020. The amendments, as of yet, do not appear to clarify any other provisions in the January 21, 2020 version of the law.

We will be tracking the bill as it moves through the Legislature and will keep you updated.