Bill Text: NJ S2869 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes penalties for employers that coerce workers based on immigration status.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-06 - Reported from Senate Committee, 2nd Reading [S2869 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S2869-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes penalties for employers that coerce workers based on immigration status.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning violations of employment rights of immigrant workers and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. In addition to any other penalty that may be imposed against an employer, any employer that uses coercion against an employee of the employer based on the immigration status of the employee in furtherance of the employer committing a violation of a State employment or labor-related law or other law, shall be subject to a civil penalty as follows:
(1) for the first violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000;
(2) for the second violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000; and
(3) for any subsequent violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000.
Any penalty imposed under this act shall be collected by the commissioner in a summary proceeding in accordance with the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). Each violation for each affected employee shall constitute a separate violation of this act.
b. As used in this act:
"Coercion" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:13-5.
"Commissioner" means Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.
"Employee" means any person suffered or permitted to work by an employer, except a person performing services for remuneration whose services satisfy the factors set forth in subparagraphs (A),(B), and (C) of R.S.43:21-19(i)(6).
"Employer" means any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, the administrator or executor of the estate of a deceased individual, or the receiver, trustee, or successor of any of the same, employing any person in this State, and includes the State of New Jersey and any county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision thereof, and any agency, authority, or instrumentality of the foregoing.
"State employment or labor-related law" includes, but is not limited to:
(1) P.L.1965, c.173 (C.34:11-4.1 et seq.);
(2) the "New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act," P.L.1963, c.150 (C.34:11-56.25 et seq.);
(3) the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.);
(4) the workers' compensation law, R.S.34:15-1 et seq.;
(5) the "unemployment compensation law," R.S.43:21-1 et seq.;
(6) the "Temporary Disability Benefits Law," P.L.1948, c.110 (C.43:21-25 et al.);
(7) P.L.2008, c.17 (C.43:21-39.1 et al.);
(8) the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act," N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq.; or
(9) P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-1 et seq.).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill imposes a civil penalty on any employer that coerces or attempts to coerce an employee of the employer based on the immigration status of the employee. Specifically, the bill imposes the following civil penalties:
(1) for the first violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000;
(2) for the second violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000; and
(3) for any subsequent violation, a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000.
State employment laws provides broad protections for employees, regardless of an employee's immigration status. However, an employee who is an immigrant to the United States may be reluctant to report employer violations for a variety of reasons. This bill requires that any employer that coerces or attempts to coerce an employee based on the employee's immigration status will be subject to penalties in addition to any penalties to which the employer may be subject due to employment violations.
For example, an employer that does not pay appropriate wages may be subject to penalties under the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law" or the wage payment law. Under the bill, if the employer that is failing to pay appropriate wages also threatens an employee based on the employee's immigration status to pressure the employee from reporting a violation, the employer would be subject to additional penalties.
