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Employee benefits in the United States constitute a large, complex and ever-changing set of programs. They are either mandated by federal or state law, such as unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation or are voluntarily provided by the employer to help attract, retain and motivate employees and to contribute to the organization’s strategic objectives.

Several New Jersey laws make monetary benefits available to provide some financial security for employees unable to work because of involuntary job loss, disability or certain family-related issues.

For employers the rights of employees to take job-protected leave for various reasons can cause scheduling nightmares, administrative headaches, and serious problems if those rights are violated, according to John Sarno, president of Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ).

While it’s possible to learn workplace laws through on-the-job experience, most employers expect the Human Resource professionals they hire will already have a firm understanding of the laws governing the profession, he says.   “As such, if a staff person’s goal is to work in human resources management, then it’s important to develop the proper understanding to perform the job.”

No area in the employment relationship is as complex and subject to change as employee benefits. Every time the New Jersey legislature passes a new law or amends an old one, it adds to the demands on an employer’s time and attention. This situation is unlikely to change.

For example, in 2020 New Jersey legislation expanded the scope of the New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, the New Jersey Temporary Disability Law to cover absences related to epidemics such as the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The law was enacted to create immediate enhanced eligibility for employee leaves in New Jersey.
Also, in 2020, New Jersey amended its Temporary Disability Benefits Law to provide job-protected leave during “a period of disability” resulting from the donation of any organ or bone marrow.

And, according to Sarno, in an eye-opening opinion letter issued by the U.S. Department of Labor parents attending certain school meetings for the benefit of their children are entitled to leave for their absences. The agency concluded that the need to attend school meetings to discuss individualized education programs for children with serious health conditions triggers intermittent Federal leave law protection.

Starting in October, EANJ will be offering its acclaimed HR Administration Program.  Led by Amy M. Vazquez and Robin M. Ross, experts in HR regulatory and legislative requirements including compliance with Federal Family Medical Leave Act, NJ Family Leave Act, State Plan Disability, Unemployment Compensation, OSHA, federal and State Wage/Hour, among others.

Click here for more information

In July, N.J. Spotlight News reported that gun owners in New Jersey are packing classes focused on applications for new carry permits — and lining up for instruction at shooting ranges so they can learn how to draw and fire a weapon safely. People want to enroll in open-carry classes since a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for owners to apply for carry permits without having to first prove “justifiable need.”

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the Court overruled a strict New York gun licensing law.  The decision has already or will also likely affect similarly restrictive laws in a handful of other states, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

“The decision may not mention the workplace, but because it will almost certainly lead to the presence of more guns in public, some employers are already on alert,” says John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey.

According to Manolis Boulukos, an Indiana-based partner at Ice Miller LLP, cited in Law360, the ruling will probably be misinterpreted.

“I think there’s a reasonable likelihood that both employees and members of the public are going to misunderstand this decision, and they are going to conclude, or get that information from the internet, that this decision somehow allows them to carry a gun wherever they want to,” he said.

Workplace weapons bans are still lawful under the Court’s ruling and nothing restricts an employer’s right to prohibit employees from bringing firearms onto your premises, including company-owed vehicles, says Sarno

Some experts have also pointed to the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which requires employers to provide a safe workplace.

Shortly after the Court decision, New Jersey further tightened the state’s already strict gun control laws with seven bills, from requiring additional training and registration to limiting ammunition and prohibiting .50-caliber rifles.

Results from Employers Association of New Jersey’s June 2022 Hybrid Workplace Survey show that over 90 percent of employer respondents utilized a hybrid workplace during the last two years and over 60 percent (either wholly or in partially) continue to do so now.

Hybrid work is usually thought of as some combination of remote and on-site work. According to respondents, 62 percent retain a hybrid or partially hybrid workplace.  About 14 percent have transitioned from hybrid to fully in-person.

Hybrid work, of course does not apply equally to all job categories.   Therefore, it is not surprising that the survey shows that mostly administrative, managerial, finance, IT and sales jobs are amenable to working remotely.

Challenges abound, including maintaining interpersonal connections, communications and trust to get the job done.

By far, better workplace balance and improved morale are the biggest benefits to hybrid work.

However, it is unclear whether business owners and executives embrace hybrid work. Improved morale is difficult to measure.   And only about two in ten respondents say that hybrid work has improved productivity or efficiency.

The workplace flexibility that allowed this massive shift to remote work was already gaining traction in certain environments well before COVID-19, and now it is unlikely that the world will return to pre-pandemic norms. How organizations adapt to this disruption will have significant, lasting implications for organizational success, however that success is measured.

Register now for Handling a Hybrid Workplace, July 20, 2022, 10am-11am

On May, 18, 2022, the Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ) convened its 106th Annual Membership Meeting, the first in person meeting since March, 2020.  The following is an excerpt from the opening remarks by John Sarno, EANJ’s president.

2019 – New Jersey had achieved a “full employment economy” Unemployment 3.6 %, more job vacancies then people looking for work.

Biggest challenges faced by EANJ members were 1) finding skilled workers to fill jobs and 2) retaining skilled workers to operate the business.  Majority of members said that these issues were hitting he bottom line.

To say that the pandemic disrupted the workplace is an understatement.   Overnight, the biggest challenges were 1) ensuring the health and safety of the workplace, 2) managing a hybrid workplace 3) dealing with employee stress, mental health and wellness.

2019 – World Health Organization identified “burnout” as major contributor of occupational disease and workers reported work stress was at an all time high (downside of the full employment economy”  An EANJ seminar that year – Mental Health and Wellbeing: An HR Toolkit – 7 people attended

Employee wellbeing, always a back seat issue for most employers – became a top concern. Adjust priorities 2020-2021.  Biggest challenge for HR in 2020-2021 was to acquire and analyze new information.   HR has become permanently information-intensive, difficult for those who work part-time HR jobs.

Like many members, EANJ went virtual. This had to be done as legal and medical information were changing dramatically

April, 2020 – March, 2022,  EANJ staff delivered 17 COVID and COVID-related webinars – New Jersey’s ongoing response to the public health emergency, OSHA standards, CDC guidance,  ADA guidance, EEO guidance, FMLA, sick leave, COVID testing, vaccines and all the updates

2,050 people representing EANJ members attended

Other webinars covering HR Law and management topics – 1,047

Certificate Programs – HR Law, HR Administration – 120

Premier Courses – Strategic HR – 94 people

EANJ staff fielded 3,708 calls and emails form members – Health & Safety, Benefits Administration (disability and sick leaves)

WE. EANJ members and EANJ staff, STEPPED UP – mastering new subject matter at the same time as learning to work virtually, staying focused and managing our own stress and anxiety.

Where are we now?

Economy is about 95% back to pre-pandemic levels, even as the Corona Virus proliferates

Unemployment – 3.6% – prepandemic levels  

Top Concerns – 1) finding skilled workers to fill jobs and 2) retaining skilled workers to operate the business.  Majority of members say that these are  hitting he bottom line.

We know that we have gone through two years of disruption, dislocation, fear, stress, grief and anxiety

What have we learned?  Charles Darwin did not say that the strongest survive.  He said that the imperative of survival is adapting and learning.  Not going backwards, but going forward – with new skills and techniques

Even as COVID remains unpredictable –

What strategies can we utilize to address these persistent workforce challenges?
What new knowledge is necessary to be better at our jobs?
How do we create better workplaces?
How do we Re-imagine, Re-engage, Retain and Recruit in a new era?
What do leaders at all levels need to do now?

These are the questions we are going to try to answer this morning.

Questions for panelists

1.    Over the past two years, millions of people have decided to quit, retire or leave the workforce.  Some industries are more impacted then others. Throughout our surveys and focus groups before and during the pandemic, the importance of workplace culture came up repeatedly – as both an asset and a detriment.   Asked about their best asset for recruiting and retaining talent, many said “positive workplace culture.” Asked about their biggest challenge, many said “inflexible workplace culture.” How can workplace culture make or break a business?

2.    What role does training play in promoting a positive workplace? What would you recommend to an employer that does not want to go back to a pre-pandemic HR model?

3.    According to a Monmouth University Poll, 70%  of Americans say we must accept that COVID is here to stay.  What impact to you think this acceptance will have on the workplace?

4.    Business owners and executives must take direct responsibility for making workplace health, safety and wellness core values.  Would anyone disagree with that? Many employers are reluctant.  Many take a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach.  Is there a business case that can be made?

5.    Pre-pandemic morale and engagement were at record lows pre-pandemic.  Who would like to comment on what strategies can be employed to increase morale and engagement.

Twelve dispensaries in New Jersey have been approved to sell cannabis items and products commercially. “Cannabis item” means any usable cannabis, cannabis product, cannabis extract, and any other cannabis resin.
 
Under the state law, employers can still conduct random and pre-employment drug tests for weed use and can still ban marijuana use at work. They cannot fire, discipline or refuse to hire someone solely because the result is positive.
 
To enforce their rules, however, employers must have a certified Workplace Impairment Recognition Expert witness impaired behavior by an employee and a positive drug test indicating presence of marijuana in a person’s system.

The use of experts who can identify impaired workers was supposed to give clarity to employers, according to John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey.
 
But it is complicated by a challenge before the state Supreme Court over the training of police departments to use Drug Recognition Experts to identify impaired drivers.

The high court appointed a Special Master, Appellate Judge Joseph Lisa, to determine whether the use of Drug Recognition Experts is based on legitimate science or junk science. The case is expected to have ramifications in the workplace over the use of experts as a right of employers.

“Employers obviously don’t want drivers or machine operators stoned” says Sarno. “Nor do we want people handling money or medical records, or customer service, for that matter to have impaired judgment.”

The central question in the court case is whether evidence obtained by Drug Recognition Experts – which, in the case, included testimony that a person is admissible under the 1923 U.S. Supreme Court decision that rejected the scientific validity of a lie detector test.

“Right now we are in a wait and see moment on whether and how employers are going to test employers for marijuana,” says Sarno, noting that the pressure to sell cannabis commercially outweighed getting clarity for employers.

According to Bloomberg, 12,438 customers spent roughly $153 per purchase on the first day New Jersey authorized legal marijuana sales on April 21.

Click here for EANJ’s Employer Resource: Marijuana at Work

The labor market is stronger, tighter, hotter than it was before the pandemic but the problems faced by employers in hiring staff remain persistent, says John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey.

With surveys and focus groups of employers in New Jersey before, during and now post-pandemic, the Association is presenting a compete overview at its Annual Meeting on May 18th.

Just before the pandemic, the state’s unemployment rate had fallen to a record low – 3.5 percent. According to Sarno, most employers report that they are concerned about employees leaving for other jobs. While this concern was spread among employers of all sizes and industries, the most acute concern was among employers with 50 or more employees.

Six out of ten employers expected a talent shortage and seven in ten expressed concern that experienced staff would quit for other jobs.

Even so, three-fourths of employers stated that they had no talent management strategy.

“It is a complicated picture. Job dissatisfaction was at record high and morale was at a record low and HR managers recognized that a positive work culture was the best way to retain valued employees.  But for many, fostering a positive work culture was derailed by the pandemic,” says Sarno.

Lacking a pre-pandemic strategy, employers’ primary method to retain valued employees relied on raising pay.

Focus groups during the pandemic showed more than half of employers laid off workers, reduced hours or cut pay.  Stress levels that were high before the pandemic skyrocketed during the pandemic, remaining high for nearly two years.

“Employers said that workers felt isolated and fearful and having a safe, positive workplace became a top priority,” says Sarno.

Presently, 99 percent of employer respondents to the Association’s most recent survey say they are or plan on hiring this year.  

And nine of ten are concerned about skilled and experienced employees quitting. And seven out of ten say they are facing the same recruitment problems as they were facing pre-pandemic.

“Again, the default retention strategy seems to be raising pay.  But as the only strategy, employers are tapped out, they are at a loss now without an alternate strategy,” adds Sarno.

So, what has the pandemic taught employers and can they learn new recruitment and retention strategies from the experience?

The Association’s Annual Meeting on May 18th will begin to answer that question.

Approximately one million full-time workers in New Jersey don’t have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to the American Retirement Association. To help make retirement planning more convenient for both employers and employees, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program Act into law in March 2019.
 
The state-run retirement option requires businesses with 25 or more employees that do not provide a qualified retirement plan such as a 401(k) to offer an automatic payroll deduction for employees, which will be paid into an IRA.
 
The Program is mandatory for employers – for-profits and nonprofits – that have 25 or more employees in New Jersey without a current employee retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b). Employers with fewer than 25 employees may participate in the program, but will not be required to. While regulations have not been issued, the enabling legislation provides that the program will affect employers who have been in business for at least two years.
 
“We know that employers play a vital role in helping employees save and plan for retirement but many small businesses are unable to sponsor a retirement savings plan,” says John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ).
 
However, the best evidence suggests that small businesses do not sponsor retirement savings plans because of administrative burdens, fiduciary and legal issues, an absence of in-house expertise, costs and fees, employee turnover and/or a high percentage of part-time workers, the uncertainly of the company’s future and higher priorities.
 
But employers that compete for skilled talent and therefore are more likely to invest in that talent can make a big difference if they have access to affordable, high quality retirement savings plans.
 
That’s why EANJ formed an Association Retirement Savings Plan.
 
Through the plan, EANJ members help their employees achieve retirement security by participating in a customizable, fiduciary-managed, high-quality 401(k) and profit-sharing plan.
 
It allows employers of any size to have the same advantages as large corporations with thousands of employees. For example, big corporations with thousands of employees benefit by having much lower costs and fees per employee for their retirement plans due to the size of plan assets and economies of scale. Likewise, through the Association Plan, small and mid-sized employers can access best-in-class retirement savings funds while enjoying the lowest fees by leveraging the assets of the entire Plan to gain access to premium funds that would otherwise be closed to them because they cannot meet high minimum investment thresholds.
 
EANJ formed its plan under existing federal guidelines and has been in operation since 2015. It is administrated at the highest fiduciary standards and beneficiaries have the same legal protections as any 401K plan sold in the market.
 
Funds are also managed by investment advisors as the costs are shared among the participating employers.
 
For small employers the value is immediate, as they would not be able get access to the best plans because their assets are too small. For large employers with 100 or more plan participants, thousands of dollars are saved because the Plan files the necessary documents and spreads the costs of mandatory audits, legal and administrative expenses.
 
Join EANJ on March 15th to learn about how the new retirement savings law will impact your business and the availability of EANJ’s Association plan.  Details & Registration.

As some employers were taking measures to comply with OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard requiring employers with 100 or more employees to administer Covid-19 vaccine-or-testing rules, a divided U.S. Supreme Court enjoined the enforcement of standard, for now, although permitting the healthcare industry to implement the rule.

For John Sarno, president of the Employers Association of New Jersey, many employers are relieved but many others are in a quandary.

“To deny the impact of the coronavirus on the workforce would be extremely callous,” says Sarno. “Employers have to do something to convey their concern for workers health and safety or risk a group of disgruntled and disgusted workers quitting or just doing the very least on the job,” he adds.

On the other hand, some employers are uncomfortable or unable to process the complex information required to implement the right policies and practices.   “Many of them quietly said, if the mandate … was upheld, we could at least tell our employees, ‘They’re making us do this’ and so shift some of the blame, some of the frustration,” said Sarno.

Now it’s up to employers. With so many workers calling out sick and the omicron variant still fueling high COVID-19 caseloads, it’s a tough decision. Regardless of size, employers must continue to stay apprised of the latest information on infection rates, testing and vaccine availability other information form the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other credible sources.

Since the court decision, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has withdrawn  the emergency temporary standard effective January 26, 2022. However, the agency has not withdrawn the standard as a proposed rule as the court gave its approval to regulate risks associated with working in particularly crowded or cramped environments.   

At present, both the CDC and OSHA strongly encourage vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace.

Recent surveys suggest that most employers do not affirmatively require workers to get vaccinated as a condition of employment.

“It’s a mixed bag of reasons,” says Sarno.  “Some are concerned about employee push-back and others don’t like keeping records or tracking employees.  Others are doing the basics like working from home and requiring masks so that’s enough for them.  But I think the main reason is that implementation of a vaccine policy is labor intensive and time consuming and that means training and paying people to implement the policy.”

And some companies have changed policies dramatically, confusing workers and customers.  Before the court decision, Starbucks announced that it was requiring its U.S. employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to regular testing, one of the first large restaurant chains to take such a step ahead of potential federal vaccination mandates for large employers.

After the court decision, employees were told in a memo that they would no longer be required to be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus testing.

Despite the change, Starbucks is still encouraging that all workers be vaccinated.

Still most experts and employment lawyers are recommending that employers implement, or continue to administer, robust policies and practices. And employer can implement vaccine requirements if it wants to.

For example, employers may choose to have a mandatory vaccination policy for one subset of employees and an optional vaccination policy with testing and face coverings for another subset of employees. And employers may also have to provide reasonable accommodations for the COVID-19 testing and face covering obligations due to disabilities and sincerely held religious beliefs.

Employers may determine and record each employee’s COVID-19 vaccination status, including if an employee is partially or fully vaccinated, and require and preserve acceptable proof of vaccination status of all employees who are vaccinated, including if they are partially or fully vaccinated.

Employers can maintain rosters that indicate, for each employee, whether they are fully or partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.

“The pandemic has not repealed the laws of human nature,” says Sarno.  “If employers are getting by with working from home and wearing masks on site and business is getting done without requiring workers to get vaccinated, and if its not broke, why fix it.”

COVID Resources here