An Act concerning the Board of Review in the Division of Employment Security and amending various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1941, c.100 (C.34:13A-3) is amended to read as follows:
C.34:13A-3 Definitions.
3. When used in this act:
The term "board" shall mean New Jersey State Board of Mediation.
The term "commission" shall mean New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission.
The term "employer" includes an employer and any person acting, directly or indirectly, on behalf of or in the interest of an employer with the employer's knowledge or ratification, but a labor organization, or any officer or agent thereof, shall be considered an employer only with respect to individuals employed by such organization. This term shall include "public employers" and shall mean the State of New Jersey, or the several counties and municipalities thereof, or any other political subdivision of the State, or a school district, or any special district, or any authority, commission, or board, or any branch or agency of the public service. The term shall also include the Delaware River Port Authority, established pursuant to R.S.32:3-1 et seq.
The term "employee" shall include any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer unless this act explicitly states otherwise, and shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of or in connection with any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment. This term, however, shall not include any individual taking the place of any employee whose work has ceased as aforesaid, nor shall it include any individual employed by his parent or spouse, or in the domestic service of any person in the home of the employer, or employed by any company owning or operating a railroad or railway express subject to the provisions of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. s.151 et seq.). This term shall include any public employee, i.e., any person holding a position, by appointment or contract, or employment in the service of a public employer, including the Delaware River Port Authority, except elected officials, members of boards and commissions, managerial executives and confidential employees. The exclusion of members of boards and commissions from the definition of employee contained within this subsection shall not apply to members of the Board of Review established pursuant to section 19 of P.L.1948, c.446 (C.34:1A-19) and subsection (d) of R.S. 43:21-10.
The term "representative" is not limited to individuals but shall include labor organizations, and individual representatives need not themselves be employed by, and the labor organization serving as a representative need not be limited in membership to the employees of, the employer whose employees are represented. This term shall include any organization, agency or person authorized or designated by a public employer, public employee, group of public employees, or public employee association to act on its behalf and represent it or them.
"Managerial executives" of a public employer, in the case of the State of New Jersey, means persons who formulate management policies and practices, but shall not mean persons who are charged with the responsibility of directing the effectuation of such management policies and practices, except that, in the case of the Executive Branch of the State of New Jersey, "managerial executive" shall include only personnel at or above the level of assistant commissioner.
In the case of any public employer other than the State of New Jersey, "managerial executives" of a public employer means persons who formulate management policies and practices, and persons who are charged with the responsibility of directing the effectuation of such management policies and practices, except that in any school district this term shall include only the superintendent or other chief administrator, and the assistant superintendent of the district.
"Confidential employees" of a public employer means employees whose functional responsibilities or knowledge in connection with the issues involved in the collective negotiations process would make their membership in any appropriate negotiating unit incompatible with their official duties.
"Confidential employees" of the State of New Jersey means employees who have direct involvement in representing the State in the collective negotiations process making their membership in any appropriate negotiating unit incompatible with their official duties.
2. Section 19 of P.L.1948, c.446 (C.34:1A-19) is amended to read as follows:
C.34:1A-19 Board of Review in Division of Employment Security.
19. There shall be within the Division of Employment Security a Board of Review consisting of three members, who shall act as a final appeals board in cases of benefit disputes, including appeals from determinations with respect to demands by the deputy for refunds of benefits pursuant to subsection (d) of R.S.43:21-16, and who shall supervise the work of local appeal tribunals which may be organized pursuant to the unemployment compensation law. The members of the Board of Review shall be appointed by the director of the Division of Employment Security, subject to the approval of the commissioner, pursuant to the provisions of Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes, Civil Service. No member of the Board of Review shall participate in any case in which the member is an interested party. The commissioner, at the commissioners discretion, may on a temporary basis appoint three additional members to the Board of Review using either, or a combination of both, of the following two methods: (1) interim appointment, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:4-1.6(d)3, of State employees who hold full-time primary employment in State service or (2) appointment, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.8, of individuals who do not hold full-time primary employment in State service to an intermittent title. If three additional members of the Board of Review are appointed by the commissioner on a temporary basis, increasing the membership of the Board of Review from three to six, the commissioner shall designate two separate panels from among the six members of the Board of Review, and each of the two panels shall be empowered to act independently of the other as a final appeals board in cases of benefit disputes, including appeals from determinations with respect to demands by the deputy for refunds of benefits pursuant to subsection (d) of R.S.43:21-16. The commissioner may interchange panel members from among the six members of the Board of Review as operational needs dictate.
3. R.S.43:21-10 is amended to read as follows:
Unemployment compensation commission.
43:21-10. (a) Organization. There is hereby created a commission to be known as the Unemployment Compensation Commission of New Jersey. It shall consist of seven members who shall be appointed by the Governor, with confirmation by the Senate, not more than four of whom shall be of the same polit