New Jersey A 232: Requires settlement agreements concerning equal employment opportunity to be approved by NJT board of directors.

Bill Text

ASSEMBLY, No. 232

STATE OF NEW JERSEY
220th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION

Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman NANCY F. MUNOZ
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
Assemblywoman MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)

SYNOPSIS
Requires settlement agreements concerning equal employment opportunity
to be approved by NJT board of directors.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

A232 N.MUNOZ, MATSIKOUDIS
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AN ACT concerning certain settlement agreements entered into by 1
the New Jersey Transit Corporation and supplementing Title 27 2
of the Revised Statutes. 3
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BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State 5
of New Jersey: 6
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1. a. The New Jersey Transit Corporation shall not enter into 8
any discrimination-related settlement agreement unless the 9
corporation’s board of directors first approves the discrimination-10
related settlement agreement. 11
b. The board of directors shall require a report to be prepared 12
annually by the executive director and provided to the board which 13
contains the discrimination-related settlement agreements approved 14
in the immediately preceding year, a comparison of discrimination-15
related settlement agreements approved in the immediately 16
preceding year with the discrimination-related settlement 17
agreements approved in the preceding five years, and an indication 18
of the department or unit subject to the complaint or allegations 19
underlying the discrimination-related settlement agreement. The 20
report prepared pursuant to this subsection shall be immediately 21
published on the corporation’s website and, within 10 days, 22
submitted to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, 23
c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature. 24
c. For the purposes of this section, “discrimination-related 25
settlement agreement” means any binding legal agreement between 26
the corporation and any other party or parties arising from any 27
complaint filed pursuant to the corporation’s equal opportunity 28
policy or under federal or State laws and regulations that prohibit 29
discrimination. 30
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2. This act shall take effect immediately. 32
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STATEMENT 35
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This bill prohibits the New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ 37
Transit) from entering into any settlement agreement concerning 38
equal employment opportunity or unlawful discrimination unless 39
the settlement agreement is approved by the NJ Transit board of 40
directors. NJ Transit’s bylaws only require approval from the board 41
of directors if a settlement agreement involves an amount of money 42
in excess of $500,000. 43
The bill also requires NJ Transit to prepare an annual report that 44
contains the discrimination-related settlement agreements approved 45
in the immediately preceding year, a comparison of discrimination-46
related settlement agreements approved in the immediately 47
preceding year with the discrimination-related settlement 48

A232 N.MUNOZ, MATSIKOUDIS
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agreements approved in the preceding five years, and an indication 1
of the department or unit subject to the complaint or allegations 2
underlying the discrimination-related settlement agreement. The 3
report is required to be published on NJ Transit’s website and 4
submitted to the Governor and the Legislature. 5