The state of New Jersey has recently enacted Assembly Bill 4182, which amends the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act (NJEERA). Most significant amongst the changes is the expansion of employment protections to employees of cannabis growers. Previously, many of New Jersey’s employment protections (such as collective bargaining and dispute resolution) did not apply to this specific sector of employment because under the NLRA, “agricultural workers” (which covers all cannabis growers) were not a protected class.

This new piece of legislation aims to correct this omission by including such employees in a sort of protected class similar to employees who fall under the NLRA. Assembly Bill 4182 provides the following rights to cannabis workers:

- Organization and unionization;

- Collective bargaining;

- Protection against unfair labor practices;

- Protection against coercion regarding their rights under Assembly Bill 4182

Because of these new regulations, cannabis employers now face onerous compliance regulations. These include including permitting unions access to their employees and enhanced labor contract negotiations. The new law also institutes a new type of “Majority Support Petition” for union recognition that bypasses traditional elections and allows unionization at much faster rate.

Employers must prepare for the introduction of these new regulations. Employers should review all handbook and employment materials to ensure that there is no wording that could be interpreted to deny or interfere with employee collective bargaining rights. Employers should also work with Human Resources to create a process for handling union petitions and collective bargaining requests.

You can read the entire Assembly Bill HERE.