SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 2962

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 24, 2024

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 2962.

      As amended, the bill requires contractors and subcontractors who are subject to the “New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act” to conduct a mandatory orientation meeting for each employee on or up to three days before the employee’s first day of a project that explains the employee’s wages and the employee’s classification under that law, unless the employer has entered into a collective bargaining agreement with the employee’s labor organization.  An employer may satisfy this requirement by conducting one orientation meeting to a group of employees if the employees start employment on the same day.

      Upon completion of the orientation, each employee will be required to sign a form, promulgated by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, stating that the employee has received the orientation.  The bill requires the contractor or subcontractor conducting the orientation to retain each completed form for a period of no less than six years and to provide each completed form to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development upon request by the department.

      Under the bill, employers that enter into a collective bargaining agreement with an employee’s labor organization are not required to conduct an orientation or comply with the subsequent requirements of the orientation with that employee.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to provide that:

      (1)  the mandatory orientation meeting for an employee may be conducted on or up to three days before the employee’s first day of a project;

      (2)  an employer that enters into a collective bargaining agreement with an employee’s labor organization is not required to conduct an orientation or comply with the subsequent requirements of the orientation with that employee; and

      (3)  a contractor or subcontractor conducting the orientation is required to retain each completed form for a period of no less than six years.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill has not been certified for a fiscal note.