Legislation on the Move
The biggest positive news we had in the Legislature this week was that the Senate State Government Committee unanimously passed the legislation we have been advocating for to ban the Lottery Commission from selling lottery tickets directly to consumers through a mobile app, cutting out retailers when it should be supporting them. This bill has already passed the Assembly unanimously, and we’re hoping to get it on the Governor’s desk soon to make it clear to the Lottery Commission (and Governor-Elect Sherill) the widespread bipartisan opposition to this plan to cut out retailers. You can read out testimony HERE for more details.
One small victory we are potentially looking at has to do with non-compete agreements. Legislation to ban these agreements (specifically ones that prevent an employee of one business from leaving and working for a competitor) has been pushed for years. In that fight, our primary concern has been protecting the right to use a non-compete when tied to the sale of a business. If, for example, you’ve operated “Craig’s Repair Shop” for decades and are looking to sell the whole thing, including the name and clients to someone so you can retire, part of the value of what you are selling is the guarantee that you won’t go down the street and open “Craig’s New Repair Shop” after pocketing the money. If you lose the ability to make that guarantee, then a potential buyer is going to be less likely to pay for the true value of your business. This week, a new version of the non-compete bill was heard in committee, but thankfully it included language to protect non-competes when used in the sale of the business.
There is concerning news about another issue that particularly affects repair shops—the expansion of the paid family leave mandate. All employees and employers pay a payroll tax that allows an employee to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off (paid by the State) for certain reasons, such as the birth of a child or to take care of a sick relative. If a business has 30 or more employees, they are required to bring back that employee when the leave is over, in the same job for the same pay and hours. Businesses with fewer than 30 employees do not have to bring the employee back if they don’t want to. The Senate is considering legislation to bring that exemption all the way down to businesses with just 1-4 employees.
It’s hard enough to find good help, especially trained repair techs. Now imagine if you find one you have to tell them that no matter what, you are legally mandated to fire them in 12 weeks when the employee on leave returns, since you can’t afford to increase your overall headcount permanently. If during the time the employee was on leave, you realized that maybe you didn’t need them, or that it should be a part-time position, you would be unable to make that change since you could be sued for discrimination and damages.
The bill has already been passed by the Assembly and is supported by Governor Murphy, so if it moves in the Senate we can assume it will become law. We got some good news when the bill was pulled from the Senate Labor Committee it was scheduled to be passed, but that was tempered when the sponsor told the press he was still optimistic it would pass soon, but perhaps with a different exemption level.
We certainly believe that the law is fairly balanced as is, but even if that number were increased to exempt businesses with 10 or fewer employees, it would protect a lot more small shops. You can read our testimony HERE for more details.
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