in our Spotlight on Business Report workers rights are front and center Governor Murphy this week signed a bill aimed at protecting service workers from a sudden and unexpected loss of employment caused by a change of ownership where they're employed it makes just the second state in the nation with such a law on the books but a senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports the business industry says it's yet another overreach by the governor one that removes an employer's right to run their company how they see fit they come in throw you out the building now you've got to figure out how you're going to feed your family how you're going to take care of your family what you're going to do how you're going to find the new job because you've been on this job for a long time Agera Vaughn is a janitor who works at the Prudential Center under a company called ABM that contracts with the Peru her companies changed ownership several times in the 16 years she's been working there causing Bond anxiety we had Pritchard then we went from Pritchard to Eastern janitorial they came in they were getting rid of all the workers and we fought them to bring the workers back and now then ejs left and we have ABM so you've seen this transition happen a few times and you've withstood it yes and now you want to make sure that everyone else does too yes so it's a good day because everybody's protected and that's because on Monday Governor Murphy signed a law that protects service workers jobs when a company changes ownership or changes contracts with its service worker employers this is a game changer in New Jersey for service workers so when the building changes its contractor or any facility changes their contractor or the ownership of a building changes from one owner to another the workers get to stay on for at least 60 days with the new employer whoever that is and prove that they can do a good job and that's just a game-changing thing for folks because we've seen many workers just get tossed out this really buys time though because it provides for a period of time in which the employee needs to be retained is this actually a Panacea no it's not but it gives employees a shot for 60 days to show that they can you know do a good job for the employer it also requires 15 days notice before for ending a service contract assemblyman Gary share sponsored the bill that will impact more than 50 thousand service workers in the state it is designed to protect workers and specifically the lowest paid security guards janitors uh people who work in buildings to keep them clean they're most often is the least paid and this bill protects them at least that when the building in which they're working is sold from one group to another that they're not left out in the cold but while the new law is lauded by the union it's met with dismay from the New Jersey business in industry Association we see it as the most far-reaching iteration of employee retention mandates to date in the state of New Jersey while it's being marketed as employee retention after a change of ownership this goes beyond just retaining employees after the sale of a business and goes down to the contract by contract level Alexis Bailey says it hamstrings companies from firing a service provider they're unhappy with and could put other employers work at risk so for example if there's a large office building they hire my cleaning company they go to hire Joanna's cleaning company your cleaning company would now need to retain my employees for 60 days in order to get that contract so that doesn't take into account if I have you know other jobs that I can bring my employees to if you have your own workers that you want to bring in to work there now their employment might be at risk for those 60 days or if the building wasn't satisfied with the work of those employees in the first place and she says adding those additional workers to the payroll for 60 days could hurt their bottom line we know this is a tight you know labor market right now and attracting and retaining workers as difficult as it is when now you're kind of gonna have to contend with these two workforces it's going to be a challenge so will this temporary protection actually save jobs or will it hurt businesses bottom lines as they allege those answers will play out when the bill takes effect on October 23rd in Newark I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news [Music]