New Jersey Employers Will Have New Posting Requirements Regarding Equal Pay Protections
Author: Marta Moakley, XpertHR Legal Editor
On September 21, 2012, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill that will require employers with over 50 employees to not only notify employees of their rights regarding gender pay equity, but also to obtain signed or verified acknowledgement from employees that they have read and understood the notice.
The bill, A2647, provides that employers should conspicuously post notice of worker rights under state and federal gender pay equity or gender discrimination laws. The notice must be made available in English, Spanish and any other language that the employer reasonably believes is the first language of a significant amount of workers, and in which the state has made a poster available.
Employers will be required to provide each worker a written copy of the notice:
- Within 30 days after the required form is issued by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development;
- At hiring, if the hire date occurs after the form's issuance;
- Annually, or before December 31 of each year; and
- Upon a worker's first request.
Employers may notify workers:
- By email delivery;
- By providing printed materials, e.g., paycheck inserts or flyers; or
- Through an Internet or intranet site, if the site can be accessed by all workers and exists for their exclusive use.
The law will become effective on November 21, 2012. However, because the required notice must be adopted through a regulatory process, the actual poster may not be available to employers by the law's effective date.
Employers must add this requirement to the various other postings and notices already required by certain New Jersey agencies, including the Department of Labor's Division of Workplace Standards, the New Jersey Division of Unemployment and Disability Insurance and the New Jersey Division of temporary Disability Insurance. Required employment posters and notices may be found in XpertHR's Employment Law Manual and Policies and Documents resources.
Additional Resources
Employee Management > Employee Communications: New Jersey
Employee Management > EEO - Discrimination: New Jersey