New Jersey’s Employer Portal for Reporting Employee Separations Goes Live

Key Takeaways

• The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has launched its electronic portal for employers to submit separation information required under New Jersey's Unemployment Compensation Law.
• New Jersey employers must report separations through the portal within seven days and provide certain benefit eligibility information.
• Failure to timely provide required information may result in negative consequences for employers, such as limiting an employer's ability to contest benefit charges and exposing the employer to statutory penalties.

Overview

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has launched its long-anticipated electronic Employer Response Portal (the portal), which employers must use to submit separation information under New Jersey's Unemployment Compensation Law (the law). Initially enacted in 2022, the law was intended to expedite unemployment benefit determinations by requiring employers to electronically submit separation information to the NJDOL. Although the law took effect in 2023, implementation was delayed until the NJDOL established the portal, which has now taken place.

Electronic Reporting Requirements

The portal significantly changes many employers' prior practices of providing separation information only after a former employee has applied for unemployment benefits. Now employers must proactively report separations - including layoffs, discharges, resignations and retirements - through the portal and provide such information so that the NJDOL can assess benefit eligibility. This generally includes the employee's separation date, last day worked, reason for separation, wages, work schedule, employer and supervisor contact information, and other relevant supporting documentation.

Importantly, employers must also continue providing separating employees with Form BC-10, Instructions for Claiming Unemployment Benefits. However, the NJDOL has clarified that employers are not required to upload or submit the BC-10 form through the portal.

Submission Timing

The NJDOL has instructed employers to submit separation information through the portal within seven days of separation. If the NJDOL notifies an employer that required separation information is missing or incomplete, the employer must generally respond within seven calendar days, though there are certain follow-up requests that may carry a shorter deadline.

Employers also should act promptly upon receiving an unemployment benefit determination, as the law generally gives an employer only seven calendar days after confirmed receipt of notification of an initial determination to file an appeal.

Consequences for Noncompliance

If an employer fails to timely provide required information, the NJDOL may decide the claim based on the information available and the employer may lose the ability to challenge certain benefit charges attributable to the claim. An employer that willfully fails or refuses to furnish required information may also be subject to monetary penalties.

Going Forward

The portal's launch transforms what had largely been a statutory reporting obligation into a practical compliance requirement. Going forward, employers should treat the portal as a new component of the separation process and ensure that systems are in place to promptly report employee separations, respond to follow-up requests from the NJDOL and monitor unemployment determinations for applicable appeal deadlines. Should you have any questions or need assistance with this new electronic reporting requirement, BakerHostetler's Employment team is ready to assist.