Camden, NJ – The following statement is in support of The ERISA Industry Committee’s (ERIC) latest filing in ERIC’s lawsuit to stop new amendments (S.B. 3170) to the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (New Jersey WARN Act) from being enforced. The statement should be attributed to Annette Guarisco Fildes, President and CEO, ERIC.
“ERIC remains steadfast in our belief that ERISA preempts New Jersey’s recent amendments to its WARN Act. We are hopeful that the court will grant our motion for summary judgment and remove this uncertainty hanging over employers’ heads. Employers must be allowed to get back to business and focus on providing jobs and the valuable benefits they provide to their employees. Employers should not have to worry about creating a burdensome new tracking system in violation of federal law.”
Today’s filing responds to the State’s request that ERIC’s motion for summary judgment be denied. ERIC filed its motion for summary judgment in May with the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeking a declaration that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) expressly preempts S.B. 3170 as well as injunctive relief to halt future enforcement of the S.B. 3170 amendments to the New Jersey WARN Act.
Like ERIC’s complaint, filed in August 2020, the motion for summary judgment focuses on S.B. 3170, which imposes a series of requirements that collectively force employers to create an ongoing administrative system that, under federal law, is considered an employee benefit plan which Congress forbids states to create.
For more information on ERIC’s lawsuit, click here.
To read today’s filing, click here.