NEW JERSEY — A new law in New Jersey extends financial protection to workers who use Unemployment Insurance (UI) during labor disputes, such as a strike.
This bill, signed Monday by Governor Phil Murphy, takes effect immediately and benefits all claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed on or after January 1, 2022.
“Workers dedicate a significant portion of their lives to their careers and deserve financial protection while expressing their legal right to strike over wages, benefits and working conditions,” said DOL Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. .
With this new law, workers will now have the following benefits:
- Allow unemployment insurance benefits to be distributed to workers during a lockout, even if a strike did not immediately precede the lockout.
- Reduce the delay from 30 days to 14 days after a strike during which unemployment insurance benefits are excluded, while allowing immediate payment of benefits, regardless of the delay, if replacement workers are hired on a permanent or temporary basis.
- Clarify that there is no exclusion if an issue in the labor dispute is the employer’s breach of an agreement between the parties.