The New Jersey Department of Labor has just made available the gender equity notice that must be posted and distributed to New Jersey employees pursuant to P.L. 2012, c. 57, which was signed into law in September of last year. Beginning on January 6, 2014 (the date that the notice will be published in the New Jersey Register), New Jersey employers with 50 or more employees (whether or not all 50 employees work inside or outside the state of New Jersey) must take the following steps:

    1.   Conspicuously post the gender equity notice in a place or places accessible to all employees in each of the employer’s New Jersey workplaces. (In the event that an employer has an Internet or intranet site for exclusive use by its employees and to which all employees have access, posting of the gender equity notice on the employer’s Internet or intranet site will satisfy the conspicuous posting requirement.)

    2.   Provide each employee in New Jersey who was hired on or before January 6, 2014, with a written copy of the gender equity notice no later than February 5, 2014.

    3.   Provide each employee in New Jersey hired after January 6, 2014, with a written copy of the gender equity notice at the time of the employee’s hiring.

    4.   Beginning January 6, 2014, provide each employee in New Jersey with a written copy of the gender equity notice on or before December 31 each year. (Employers may time this to coincide with their annual distribution of the New Jersey CEPA poster.)

    5.   Beginning January 6, 2014, provide each employee in New Jersey a written copy of the gender equity notice upon the first request of the employee.

Finally, the gender equity notice provided to employees under requirements two through five above must be accompanied by an acknowledgment that the employee has received the notice and has read and understands its terms. This acknowledgment must be signed by the employee, in writing or by means of electronic verification, and returned to the covered employer within 30 days of receipt. The New Jersey Department of Labor has taken the position that an acknowledgment must be secured following each distribution, not merely once per year.

We understand from the New Jersey Department of Labor that a Spanish version of the notice will be forthcoming (for required distribution, along with the English notice, when the employer reasonably believes Spanish is the first language of a significant number of its workforce.) Additional language versions may follow.

Note: This article was published in the December 10, 2013 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.