The bill amends New Jersey's unemployment compensation laws to enhance eligibility criteria and benefit calculations for claimants. Key changes include the expansion of dependent definitions to include unemployed, unmarried children under 22 attending school full-time and disabled adult children with disabilities that began before age 22. The bill also allows full-time students and those in approved training programs to qualify for benefits without being deemed unavailable for work, provided they demonstrate active job-seeking efforts. Additionally, it introduces new provisions for managing claims online and mandates that employers provide timely information regarding unemployment claims, with penalties for non-compliance.

Furthermore, the bill clarifies the calculation of the average weekly wage for benefits, ensuring it includes wages from all base year employers, and modifies the handling of overpayments to protect claimants from penalties due to errors not caused by them. It also removes the disqualification for full-time students and establishes new protections for individuals leaving work due to domestic violence or to accompany a military spouse. The amendments aim to modernize the unemployment compensation framework, making it more relevant to today's workforce while ensuring fair distribution of benefits and accountability among employers.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 43:21-24.19