Updates of state-specific information here
Here is the latest information that is particular to New Jersey small businesses
4/2
JOINT STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR MURPHY, SENATE PRESIDENT SWEENEY AND SPEAKER COUGHLIN
Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin issued the following joint statement today on the tax filing deadline and the state budget timetable:
“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused hardships, financial strain, and disruptions for many New Jerseyans and New Jersey businesses. As part of our response, we have reached agreement that the state income tax filing deadline and the corporation business tax filing deadline will be extended from April 15th to July 15th.
“Additionally, as part of the whole-of-government effort that is going into fighting COVID-19, we have agreed that the state fiscal year should be extended to September 30th. This will allow the Administration and the Legislature to focus fully on leading New Jersey out of this crisis, and to allow for a robust, comprehensive, and well-informed budget process later in the year.
“We are committed to working together to enact the necessary legislation and supplemental appropriations to accomplish these goals.”
3/25
Childcare Centers Must File Documents to Remain Open for Essential Workers’ Children
The Governor has ordered that childcare centers in New Jersey will only be allowed to remain open if they certify that they will be used exclusively for the children of essential workers, especially health care workers and first responders.
A certification form will soon be available on the state’s COVID-19 website: https://covid19.nj.gov/. In order to be designated as an Emergency Child Care Center, any person or organization requesting permission to stay open shall submit the requested form for approval by Friday March 27, 2020. The Commissioner of DCF would then review the form and grant authorization.
3/24
This afternoon, the Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of the New Jersey State Police, Office of Emergency Management signed an Administrative Order adding certain businesses to be included under the definition of essential services.
Director of Emergency Management, hereby ORDER the following businesses are added to the list of essential retail businesses in accordance with paragraph 6 of Executive Order No. 107.
- Mobile phone retail and repair shops.
- Bicycle shops, but only to provide service and repair.
- Livestock feed stores.
- Nurseries and garden centers.
- Farming equipment stores.
The businesses listed above must operate in accordance with rules pertaining to social distancing. The order goes into effect immediately.
Governor Murphy Announces Statewide Stay at Home Order, Closure of All Non-Essential Retail Businesses
Order Also Prohibits All Social Gatherings, Mandates Work From Home Arrangements for Employees When Possible, and Invalidates Any Conflicting Local and County Regulations
NEWARK – To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and protect the capacity of New Jersey’s health care system for the state’s most vulnerable, Governor Phil Murphy today signed Executive Order No. 107, directing all residents to stay at home until further notice. The order provides for certain exceptions, such as obtaining essential goods or services, seeking medical attention, visiting family or close friends, reporting to work, or engaging in outdoor activities.
“From day one, we’ve made a commitment to be guided by the facts and take any action necessary to protect the health and safety of New Jersey’s nine million residents,” said Governor Murphy. “We know the virus spreads through person-to person contact, and the best way to prevent further exposure is to limit our public interactions to only the most essential purposes. This is a time for us all to come together in one mission to ‘flatten the curve’ and slow – and eventually halt – the spread of coronavirus.”
In effort to strengthen the existing social distancing measures in place, the order also prohibits all gatherings of individuals, such as parties, celebrations, or other social events, unless otherwise authorized by the Order. When in public, individuals must practice social distancing and stay at least six feet apart whenever possible, excluding immediate family members, caretakers, household members, or romantic partners.
Governor Murphy’s Executive Order further directs the closure of all non-essential retail businesses to the public, with the exceptions of:
- Grocery stores, farmer’s markets and farms that sell directly to customers, and other food stores, including retailers that offer a varied assortment of foods comparable to what exists at a grocery store;
- Pharmacies and medical marijuana dispensaries;
- Medical supply stores;
- Gas stations;
- Convenience stores;
- Ancillary stores within healthcare facilities;
- Hardware and home improvement stores;
- Banks and other financial institutions;
- Laundromats and dry-cleaning services;
- Stores that principally sell supplies for children under five years;
- Pet stores;
- Liquor stores;
- Car dealerships, but only for auto maintenance and repair, and auto mechanics;
- Printing and office supply shops;
- Mail and delivery stores.
Nothing in the Order shall limit 1) the provision of health care or medical services; 2) access to essential services for low-income residents, such as food banks; 3) the operations of the media; 4) law enforcement agencies, or 5) the operations of the federal government.
Additionally, the order mandates that all businesses or non-profits, wherever practicable, must accommodate their workforce for telework or work-from-home arrangements. To the extent a business or non-profit has employees that cannot perform their functions via telework or work-from-home arrangements, the business or non-profit should make best efforts to reduce staff on site to the minimal number necessary to ensure that essential operations can continue.
Examples of employees who need to be present at their work site in order to perform their job duties include, but are not limited to, law enforcement officers, fire fighters, other first responders, cashiers or store clerks, construction workers, utility workers, repair workers, warehouse workers, lab researchers, IT maintenance workers, janitorial and custodial staff, and certain administrative staff.
The Order continues existing bans on recreational and entertainment businesses, requirements that all restaurants operate by delivery and takeout only, and the directive that all pre-K, elementary, and secondary schools close and all institutions of higher education cease in-person instruction.
Governor Murphy also signed Executive Order No. 108, which invalidates any county or municipal restriction that in any way will or might conflict with any of the provisions of Executive Order No. 107. Municipalities or counties cannot 1) make any additions to or deletions from the list of essential retail businesses; 2) impose any additional limitations on businesses beyond the Governor’s Order; 3) impose any additional density or social distancing requirements; or 4) impose any additional restrictions on freedom of movement. The only exceptions are two categories over which municipalities or counties may impose any additional restrictions: 1) online marketplaces for arranging or offering lodging and 2) municipal or county parks.
All additional county and municipality restrictions, subject to the provisions above, are not only invalidated, but, going forward, municipalities or counties may not enact or enforce any rule or ordinance which will or might conflict with any of the provisions of Executive Order No. 107.
For a copy of Executive Order No. 107, click here.
For a copy of Executive Order No. 108, click here.
The orders shall take effect on Saturday, March 21 at 9:00 p.m.
3/21/2020
Governor Phil Murphy today announced the launch of the New Jersey COVID-19 Information Hub, a new, visitor-friendly website available at covid19.nj.gov. The New Jersey COVID-19 Information Hub provides New Jerseyans with the most up-to-date information about COVID-19 and the State’s response, including information about services such as food assistance and small business assistance.
3/18/2020 SBA Loans for New Jersey Small Business
state grants
The State of New Jersey has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a declared disaster state for COVID-19.
Small businesses can now start to apply for Disaster Loans on SBA’s website.
Click here to start your application.
Please see the Small Business Fact Sheet by clicking here.
3/17/2020 Governor’s New Release on Order For Certain Businesses to Close
To further strengthen New Jersey’s aggressive social distancing measures, Governor Phil Murphy today announced an Administrative Order mandating the indefinite closure across New Jersey of 1) all indoor portions of retail shopping malls and 2) all indoor and outdoor places of public amusement across New Jersey. The Order, issued by State Director of Emergency Management Colonel Patrick Callahan, supplements the list of facilities currently closed to members of the public, which includes casino gaming floors, racetracks, gyms, and entertainment centers.
The Administrative Order applies to the following facilities:
- All indoor portions of retail shopping malls. Restaurants and other stores located within shopping malls that have their own external entrances open to the public, separate from the general mall entrance, may remain open as long as they comply with prior directives on operating hours and takeout or food delivery services.
- All places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, including but not limited to, locations with amusement rides, carnivals, amusement parks, water parks, aquariums, zoos, arcades, fairs, children’s play centers, funplexes, theme parks, bowling alleys, family and children’s attractions.
Further, I am directing effective 8:00 PM tonight the closure of all indoor shopping malls, amusement parks and amusement centers across New Jersey until the current emergency ends. Restaurants which are located within these indoor malls and which also have their own entrances separate from the general mall entrances may remain open under the same rules and regulations we announced yesterday for restaurants and bars, which is take-out or delivery only.
Let me be clear that outside of our indoor malls, other businesses specifically ordered to shut down – or the restaurants and bars which are limited to providing that take-out or delivery services only – all other nonessential retail, recreational and entertainment businesses may remain open until 8:00 PM if they abide by our social distancing guidelines. And that’s a big if. This is how we will be able to stay strong throughout this emergency and how we will emerge from it stronger and more prepared for the long term.
Now, for residents who are out of work as a result of this emergency, help is available. Workers whose place of employment has closed or whose hours have been cut as a results of this emergency are in all likelihood eligible to receive either full or partial unemployment insurance benefits for however long they will be either out of work or working fewer hours.
The Administrative Order does not apply to public parks and open recreation areas.
The Order takes effect at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.
A copy of the Administrative Order can be found here.
Employee Benefits you may mention to your employees if they are laid off-
- EARNED SICK LEAVE – full and part time employees earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time that they can use if sick, to care for family member, to stay home for the public health emergency or if child’s school closed for same.
- TEMPORARY DISABILITY – If you contacted the virus, but not at work, you can file a claim online at nj.gov.
- WORKERS COMPENSATION – If you contracted COVID-19 at work go to nj.gov/labor/we/workers/claim/filing_index.html.
- FAMILY SICK – NJ workers can earn up to six weeks paid time off to care for sick family member; 2/3 of paycheck.
- WORK CLOSES – If working less than 80% of your regular work time unemployment is available. File a claim online at muunemployement.nj.gov. This moved to all online this week.
In-person Unemployment Insurance services are temporarily suspended at all New Jersey One-IStop Career Center offices effective immediately. Anticipated re-opening is in two weeks, on Monday, March 30.
Customers needing to file for unemployment insurance are urged to apply online at MyUnemployment.nj.gov. We are experiencing extraordinarily high call volume and longer than usual wait times. Filing online is easy, and will ensure your claim is processed in the fastest way possible.
If you are unable to access the internet, please call:
North Jersey: 201-601-4100
Central Jersey: 732-761-2020
Southern Jersey: 856-507-2340
