With backing from former workers at Toys “R” Us Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. left with little or no severance after their stores closed, New Jersey lawmakers voted Feb. 7 to require companies to provide compensation to employees dismissed in mass layoffs.
The legislation, approved by the Senate Commerce Committee, is the first of its kind among U.S. states, according to one of its sponsors, Senator Joseph Cryan, a Democrat from Union, and Jack Raisner, a New York employment attorney who helped draft it. The bill also would extend the employee notice period for mass firings to 90 days from ...