|
Paid Family Leave, Project Labor Agreements Will Drive Up Business Costs, NJBIA Tells Panel
The state Assembly Labor Committee held its first meeting of the new legislative session on February 4, taking testimony from more than 20 representatives of business, organized labor and community groups. Speaking on behalf of NJBIA, Vice President Jeff Stoller and Executive Vice President Philip Kirschner addressed the labor issues of greatest concern to New Jersey employers.
Many of the union representatives called for making New Jersey the first and only state in the US to require employers to provide employees with 12 weeks of paid family leave each year. Others endorsed "project labor agreements" (PLAs) that limit contracts on public construction projects, such as school and highways, to firms using union labor. Hundreds of qualified nonunion contractors would be effectively shut out. NJBIA pointed out that even the most labor-friendly states in the nation have concluded that a paid leave mandate is unworkable. It would disrupt the day-to-day operations of both public and private sector employers of all sizes. It would vastly decrease productivity while increasing costs for employers. Paid leave would also undermine New Jersey's economic competitiveness by imposing an unprecedented employer mandate that does not exist anywhere else in the country. On PLAs NJBIA also warned that denying nonunion contractors the ability to participate in public construction projects will drive up costs for all New Jersey taxpayers. Contractors should be judged on their record of completing projects on time and within budget, not on who they hire. One of employers' top priorities is giving New Jersey's workers the skills they need to compete. Despite the recent economic slowdown, an aggressive program of training and retraining is the key to creating new jobs in the future. NJBIA urged the committee to focus on positive initiatives, such as expanded customized training, that promote continued economic growth. At the same time, the committee should discourage new legislation that would put New Jersey's labor policies out of step with other states.
New OSHA Recordkeeping Rules Take Effect
On February 1, the US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) began enforcing new recordkeeping rules for 1.4 million employers nationwide. The revised forms tracking workplace injuries and illnesses have been revised to make them easier to understand and complete.
Employers likely to be covered by the new rules should have received sample recordkeeping forms in January. The forms are also available online at www.osha-slc.gov/recordkeeping/index.html or www.osha.gov. Those sites include fact sheets, frequently asked questions and training materials to help businesses make the transition to the new system. OSHA officials believe that the revised recordkeeping procedures will result in more accurate collection of injury and illness data. They also take steps to increase employee privacy in sensitive cases. Employers should post their OSHA 2001 summary of injuries and illnesses during the month of February. Beginning in 2003, employers will be required to display the latest annual summary for three months - February, March and April.
VIOLENCE IN THE WORKPLACE:
Legal Obligations and Employer Responses
By Martha L. Lester, Esq., Lowenstein Sandler PC
Martha L. Lester is a Director at Lowenstein Sandler PC. She is also Chair of the firm's Employment Law Practice Group and the Executive Editor of A Practical Guide to New Jersey Employment Law: The Employer's Resource.
Two million assaults occur annually in the workplace. Homicide is the third leading cause of fatal occupational injuries for all workers and the second leading cause of occupational death for women. An impaired or disgruntled employee, an employee's estranged partner or a violent criminal can pose an equally great threat to the workforce. Given the tragic events of September 11, the possibility of a workplace disaster cannot be discounted. To minimize legal liability, an employer should develop with legal counsel a written, antiviolence policy, which emphasizes the employer's commitment to oppose workplace violence and threats of violence. The policy should list examples of inappropriate behaviors, and include a procedure to report threatening or violent behavior to management without fear of retaliation. An employee's acknowledgment of the policy's receipt should be obtained and retained. Key personnel (i.e., a safety committee) should be trained to receive, investigate and take immediate action to address reports. A company disaster recovery plan should also be disseminated. It is imperative to document and maintain a record of all incidents of assault, aggressive behavior and threats, safety committee meeting minutes, inspection reports, and insurance and medical records.
What Are an Employer's Legal Responsibilities? The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires an employer to "furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment ... free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees." OSHA Guidelines require the employer to conduct a work-site analysis, implement hazard prevention and control and safety and health training, and conduct regularly-scheduled program evaluations. New Jersey's Worker Health and Safety Act requires every employer to "furnish a place of employment which shall be reasonably safe and healthful for employees." New Jersey's act further requires employers (not otherwise exempted under the act) to "install, maintain and use ... employee protective devices and safeguards ... and where a substantial risk of physical injury is inherent in the nature of a specific work operation, [the employer] shall also ... establish and enforce such work methods as are reasonably necessary to protect the life, health and safety of employees, with due regard for the nature of the work required." In the public sector, the Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health Act seeks to "ensure that all public employees be provided with safe and healthful work environments free from recognized hazards." An employer also has a legal duty to exercise ordinary care to maintain a safe workplace and to protect employees as well as members of the general public under the common law. An employer might be held liable for "negligent hiring" if the employer knew or should have known an employee was dangerous or unfit to fulfill his or her duties, and it was foreseeable that the employee created an unreasonable risk of harm to others. An employer may also be liable for improperly training or failing to train or effectively supervise an employee. Finally, an employer may be liable for "negligent retention" if they retain an employee when they know or have reason to know that the employee is unfit for duty or poses a threat to coworkers or to the general public.
What Can an Employer Do to Meet Their Obligations?
- Train employees to anticipate, recognize and respond to conflict and potential violence in the workplace. Promote employee assistance or counseling programs, particularly for workers who make threats or demonstrate harassing behavior. Teach employees to identify the signs of potentially violent individuals and recognize indicative behaviors such as name-calling, making threats, throwing objects, and hitting. Conduct a physical inspection and distribute employee questionnaires. Contact local law enforcement officials to learn of special area concerns and to familiarize them with your business and your facility. Arrange the furniture and partitions to prevent entrapment of employees. Remove items from the tops of desks, such as scissors, staples, etc. that might be used as weapons. Install panic buttons, plexiglas panels at payment windows, grates on ground floor windows, and adequate lighting for the facility and parking areas. Lock offices after customary office hours and bathroom doors at all times. Limit the number of entrances and exits, and make visitors sign in and sign out at reception desks. Require employees and visitors to wear ID badges. Keep reception areas separate from work areas. Make security guards and escorts available. Post security numbers by telephones. Keep safety and first-aid equipment handy. • Store master file information in an accessible off-site location. Critical information such as employee and customer lists, insurance coverage, bank data, and the like should be collected and maintained off-site. Make daily backups of company computer data and store them appropriately. Documentation critical to the company should be scanned and indexed on a database. Maintain off-site equipment to import back-up data and to otherwise keep the lines of communication open. Cross-train employees so that your company is not vulnerable to only one person having vital company information. Monitor the location of company employees.
- Develop an evacuation plan and conduct periodic drills. Mark all exits clearly and ensure adequate lighting in all passage ways.
Who to Contact in State Gov't on Labor & HR Issues
Department of Labor
Albert G. Kroll
Labor Commissioner
PO Box 110
Trenton, NJ 08625
609-882-2323
Fax 609-633-9271
Assembly Labor Committee
Arline M. Friscia - Chair
245 Main Street
Woodbridge, NJ 07095
732-634-2526 Paul A. Sarlo - Vice-Chair
Neil M. Cohen
Joseph V. Egan
George F. Geist
Guy R. Gregg
Robert J. Smith
Senate Labor Committee
Joseph Charles - Cochair
PO Box E
151 Martin Luther King Drive
Jersey City, NJ 07304
201-432-1400 Leonard Lance - Cochair
119 Main St.
Flemington, NJ 08822
908-788-6900 Joseph Coniglio
Robert E. Littell
Joseph A. Palaia
Stephen M. Sweeney For a complete listing of NJ legislative committees, legislators and their key staff, get your copy of NJBIA's ALL NEW Directory of the 210th NJ Legislature Here. Contact Dawn Miller at 609-393-7707, ext. 224, for information.
NEW JERSEY EMPLOYMENT WATCH
End of Recession Nears, But Anemic Recovery Predicted
Hopeful signs abound that the national recession, which began a year ago in March, is coming to an end, if it hasn't already. However, many economists expect New Jersey and the nation to emerge from a shallow recession into an anemic and uneven recovery that could well make 2002 a year of lackluster growth.
Officially, the longest national expansion on record ended in March 2001. If the recession ends this month, it will have lasted 11 months, the post-war norm. In New Jersey, we enjoyed 106 months of continuous economic growth (May 1992-March 2001), making it the second longest postwar expansion. The record, 110 months, was set in the 1960s. Taking a look at the performance of the NJ economy last year, the state's private sector sustained its first net loss of jobs in nine years. Between December 2000 and December 2001, 29,000 jobs disappeared. That's quite a contrast to an average of 80,000 new jobs created in each of the previous five years. Virtually the entire decline came in the manufacturing sector, where 27,300 jobs were lost in 2001. That's six percent of the state's factory workforce, an enormous contraction. This represents the largest loss-both as a total number and as a percentage-in the last decade. Emblematic of the decline was the announced closing of the Ford assembly plant in Edison, which will erase 1,600 New Jersey jobs. While manufacturing accounts for the bulk of New Jersey's job losses over the last year, the other major sectors of the economy-construction and services-barely kept their heads above water. The construction industry gained a mere 800 jobs, an increase of just one half of one percent, and the service industries actually lost 2,400 jobs, a decline of one tenth of one percent. Although New Jersey remains mired in a manufacturing recession and the rest of our economy has stalled, we appear to be doing better than the nation as a whole. We ended 2001 with an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, well above the 3.6 percent low of a year ago. However, this is nearly a whole percentage point below the national unemployment rate of 5.8 percent, and we've been below the nation for 25 consecutive months. New Jersey's economic downturn is causing some real pain for our new Governor. The state budget deficit is now pegged at $2.9 billion for the current fiscal year, making it the deepest state budget deficit in the nation. A deficit of $5 to $6 billion is anticipated for the next fiscal year. Looking ahead, economic activity in 2002 in New Jersey will be weaker than it was last year. The first half of the year is expected to be flat, followed by a modest recovery that will produce about 10,000 new jobs. What follows is an unofficial forecast:
Gross State Product-GSP growth will be 2.2% this year, the weakest since 1990.
Retail Sales-Sales growth has slowed dramatically and will slow again this year to a just 1.4%.
Car Sales-New car sales fell by more than 3% last year and are expected to fall by 6% this year.
Housing-New-home sales fell by 20 percent last year to 27,000, down from the expansion high set the year before. Sales will remain flat this year before creeping up again in 2003.
A Practical Guide To New Jersey Employment Law:
The Employer's Resource (2001-2002)
NJBIA is proud to offer a valuable publication for the savvy employer edited by Martha L. Lester, Esq., Chair of Lowenstein Sandler's Employment Law Practice Group. This guide covers New Jersey employment-related laws, regulations, and best practices, making it the essential resource for managers and employers seeking to comply with state laws and manage workplace risks effectively. This user-friendly resource provides descriptions of the laws, contact information, HR tips, frequently asked questions, and forms. Prices: NJBIA members $60 (plus 6% NJ sales tax), nonmembers $90 (plus 6% NJ sales tax).
You may purchase the book by calling Dawn Miller at 609-393-7707, ext. 224.
|
