S 2949 New Jersey Senate · 2024-2025 Regular Session

Revises unemployment compensation law.

# Summary of New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Law Amendments (P.L. 2022, c.120) This bill amends New Jersey's Unemployment Compensation Law (R.S. 43:21-1 et seq.) with several significant changes to benefit eligibility, calculation, and administration: 1. **Expanded Dependent Coverage**: Adds disabled, unmarried adult children of UI claimants (whose disability began before age 22) to the dependents counted for benefit calculation. 2. **Student Eligibility**: Removes the requirement that students in full-time education must have earned sufficient wages while enrolled to be eligible for UI benefits. Students can now receive benefits as long as they remain available for work. 3. **Training Program Eligibility**: Shifts the provision allowing UI benefits for participants in department-approved training programs from an exception to a standard eligibility condition. 4. **Electronic Notifications**: Allows claimants to request electronic notifications of initial benefit determinations. 5. **Overpayment Repayment Rules**: - Replaces the previous rule that claimants didn't have to repay overpayments due to their non-fraudulent errors with a new system - Requires full waiver of repayment if overpayment was due to department or employer error (even without a claimant request) - Provides full waivers for claimants who have died, become disabled, or if recovery would be contrary to equity and good conscience 6. **Average Weekly Wage Calculation**: Changes the calculation to be based on wages from all base year employers (not just the most recent employer), with a maximum of 52 base weeks. 7. **Extended Benefits**: Removes the requirement that claimants must earn four times their weekly benefit rate before being eligible for extended benefits after a disqualification for misconduct or failure to apply for suitable work. 8. **Employer Charges**: Removes the requirement that overpayments paid before appeal resolution be charged to the employer's UI tax account. 9. **Electronic Access**: Requires the Department of Labor to develop a mechanism for claimants to have electronic access to their benefit payment status and history. The bill specifies that sections 4 and 6 (which contain many of these changes) will be effective retroactively to July 31, 2023, effectively nullifying the previous law that went into effect on that date.
Sub-Topics: Unemployment
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2024
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Mar 11, 2024 Last action Oct 28, 2024
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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
5
Key actions
2
Committee
3
Jun 26, 2024
Upper · Passed
Reported out of Senate Committee, 2nd Reading
upper
Jun 3, 2024
Committee
Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee
upper
Jun 3, 2024
Upper · Passed
Reported out of Senate Committee, 2nd Reading
upper
Mar 11, 2024
Introduced
Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee
upper
2 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors