NJ First Act’s Shore Community Impact

AVALON – In 2011, long before President Trump launched his America First campaign, Gov. Chris Christie signed into law what has been commonly called the New Jersey First Act. 
The act requires that all public employment in the state must go to state residents or out-of-state residents who agree to move into New Jersey within a year of their appointment.
The act broadly defines public employment to include all positions at the state, county, and municipal levels. It includes jobs at state-supported colleges, all school boards, and also all commissions, authorities, bodies, and boards.
Current employees who lived out of state when the act was passed were exempted as long as they never moved out of state.
Also exempt were one-time temporary appointments like a visiting professor at a state higher education institution.
A committee was established to hear hardship cases.
The law was meant to put New Jersey residents first for public employment opportunities. The act had a strict interpretation of residency, defining a principal residence in ways that would disqualify second homeowners.
Seasonal Workers
The major issue for shore communities was the high number of seasonal employees which are staffed during the season by non-state residents.
The first position that many think of is a municipal lifeguard. These positions are often filled by college students whose principal residence is out of New Jersey.
In many cases, the same individual returns year after year and never gains residence.
Given the importance of the seasonal workers to the state’s tourism economy, one might expect that an exemption was made for such workers. Not so.
Guidance from the state Department of Labor makes clear that “no distinction is made between types of appointments, that is, temporary appointments, part-time appointments, or unclassified appointments. All appointments are treated similarly under the law.”
Assistant Business Administrator James Waldron explained at a meeting of Avalon Borough Council how the municipality maintains its annual non-state seasonal employees.
The Labor Department guidance hints at a solution. “In the case of employees who work less than a year the requirement that the employee attain New Jersey residency within one year may be ultimately moot since the appointment will have expired by that time.”
That is exactly what Avalon, and other shore communities, depends on. As Waldron explained, the borough’s seasonal employees complete their employment within the one-year time frame and then their job disappears.  Each year a new clock starts, and each year the same result occurs.
It is unclear if the Labor Department’s guidance was meant to cover individuals who return to the state year after year to fulfill the same function. This is how the shore communities can run their seasonal employment programs while arguing that they are following the letter of the law.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.