Severance Pay Required in New Jersey Mass Layoffs Law

New Jersey will take the unusual step of mandating severance pay for workers affected by a mass layoff, under changes to its worker notification law that Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed.

Under S.3170, employers must pay a week’s wages for each year of service to employees affected by a layoff of 50 or more people. The revisions also require 90 days of notice—up from the current 60-day requirement—before the layoff, and employers that fail to give notice will owe an additional four weeks of severance pay to workers. The changes to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act ...