New Jersey’s Service Employee Protection Law – What to do when hiring new service employees for your Association

April 23rd, 2026 | Community Association Law Blog

By Mary Ellen Liberatore, Esq.

If your community association is considering a change in service employees, you will want to first determine whether New Jersey’s Service Employee Protection Law applies to the termination of your current service employees. If the law does apply, then you will want to assure that its requirements are met, or else your community association may face possible fines, penalties, and other damages.

The law, which went into effect in October 2023, requires certain vendors who are awarded a contract by a community association of 50 or more residential units to retain the prior terminated vendor’s employees for a period of 60 days or until the new vendor’s service contract is terminated, whichever is earlier.

The law defines a “service employee” who is protected under its requirements as “an individual employed or assigned to [the community association] on a full or part time basis for at least 60 days and who is not a managerial or professional employee or regularly scheduled to work less than 16 hours per week” in connection with the care or maintenance of a building or property.

Examples of service employees under the law include, but are not limited to, security guards; front desk workers; janitors; maintenance employees; building superintendents; grounds maintenance workers; stationary fireman; elevator operator and starter; or window cleaner.

Under the law, service employees do not include “any individual who performs work on any building, structural, electric, HVAC, or plumbing project, if the work requires a permit to be issued by a municipal building or construction department.” If the law is applicable, at least 15 days before terminating any service contract for a “service employee,” the association must:

1. request the terminated vendor to give the successor employer a list containing the name, date of hire, and job classification of each service employee working on the service contract and name and contact information of the employee’s collective bargaining representative, if any;

2. give the successor employer a list containing the name, date of hire, job classification of each service employee currently performing the work to be performed pursuant to the service contract and name and contact information of the employee’s collective bargaining representative, if any;

3. provide written notice to any collective bargaining representative of the affected service employees of the decision to terminate the service contract, enter into a new service contract, or sell or transfer the property;

4. ensure that a written notice to all affected service employees describing the pending termination of the service contract, entrance into a service contract, or sale or transfer of the property, including the name and address of the awardee, purchaser, or transferee, and the employees’ rights provided by this section, are conspicuously posted at any affected work site; and

5. provide the affected service employees and their collective bargaining representative with the name and address of any successor employer or the purchaser or transferee of the property.

The successor employer must also comply with specific requirements of the law, including retaining the affected service employees at the association for 60 days, or until its service contract is terminated, whichever is earlier. The service employee may only be terminated by the successor employer during those 60 days for just cause. The written offer provided by the successor employer to the service employees must be substantially in the form set forth in the statute.

There is an exception to the law’s requirements if there is no need for the same number of employees to perform the work as in the past contract. In those instances, there are certain criteria that need to be followed to ensure that the employees with the most seniority within each job classification receive employment.

Any agreement between an association and a vendor that hinders the vendor’s ability to comply with its obligations under the law is “declared to be contrary to public policy and void.”

The association and vendor can face fines and penalties, including lost wages claims, consequential damages, attorney’s fees, as well as injunctive relief, if they fail to comply with the law.

Please reach out to us if you have questions regarding the law and if it applies to your community association’s new hires!

This update is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.