Section 34:13A-59 - Collective negotiations, resolution of disputes, employment terms, conditionsNotwithstanding any provisions of the "New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act," P.L. 1941, c.100 (C.34:13A-1 et seq.), or any other law to the contrary:
a. Permissive subjects for collective negotiation shall include all terms and conditions of employment that are not otherwise mandatorily negotiable and that intimately and directly affect employee work and welfare, unless otherwise preempted by State or federal statute, or unless a negotiated agreement would prevent government from carrying out its statutory mission.b. Administrative regulations adopted after the effective date of P.L. 2021, c. 411(C.34:13A-56 et al.) that set terms and conditions of employment or that grant public employers authority over terms and conditions of employment do not preempt collective negotiations and do not supersede the provisions of any negotiated agreement, except that terms and conditions of employment set by statutes and regulations shall not be diminished by a negotiated agreement.c. Parties may submit disputes about whether a matter is within the scope of collective negotiations to the commission, pursuant to the authority vested in it by subsection d. of section 1 of P.L. 1974, c.123 (C.34:13A-5.4).d. Grievance procedures shall provide for binding arbitration as the means for resolving disputes over the application, interpretation or violation of the terms of a collective negotiations agreement entered into by the parties.e. Where an employer and a majority representative agree to disciplinary review procedures that provide for binding arbitration of disputes involving employees who are covered by alternate statutory review procedures, other than public employees subject to discipline pursuant to R.S. 53:1-10, the disciplinary review procedures established by agreement between an employer and a majority representative shall be utilized for any dispute covered by the terms of such agreement.f. Notwithstanding the expiration of a collective negotiations agreement, an impasse in negotiations, an exhaustion of the commission's impasse procedures, or the utilization or completion of the procedures required by P.L. 2021, c. 411(C.34:13A-56 et al.) to resolve disputes involving collective negotiations, and notwithstanding any law or regulation to the contrary, no public employer, its representatives, or its agents shall unilaterally impose, modify, amend, delete, or alter any mandatorily negotiable terms and conditions of employment as set forth in the expired or expiring collective negotiations agreement, or unilaterally impose, modify, amend, delete, or alter any other mandatorily negotiable terms and conditions of employment that are not set forth in a collective negotiations agreement, without the specific written agreement of the majority representative. Following contract expiration, and notwithstanding any law or regulation to the contrary, absent express language in a collective negotiations agreement providing that a specific term of the agreement will not continue after the expiration of the collective negotiations agreement, all terms and conditions of the agreement, including, but not limited to, the payment of salary increments, shall remain in effect following the agreement's expiration until the parties reach agreement on a successor collective negotiations agreement.g. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, the Legislature retains the right to exempt from collective negotiations subjects that would otherwise be mandatory subjects of negotiations.h. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, the resolution of disputes concerning negotiations over terms and conditions of employment shall not be subject to compulsory interest arbitration as set forth in P.L. 1995, c. 425 (C.34:13A-14a et seq.).i. The parties to collective negotiations may not insist on negotiating over permissive subjects of negotiations. A party's decision to not negotiate or to cease negotiating over a permissive subject of negotiations is not a violation of subsection a. or b. of section 1 of P.L. 1974, c.123 (C.34:13A-5.4).j. The commission shall promulgate regulations to enforce the provisions of this section.Added by L. 2021, c. 411, s. 4, eff. 1/18/2022.