4. a. Each employer which is required to maintain and report records regarding wages, benefits, taxes and other contributions and assessments pursuant to State wage, benefit and tax laws, as defined in section 1 of this act, shall conspicuously post notification, in a place or places accessible to all employees in each of the employer’s workplaces, in a form issued by regulation adopted by the commissioner, of the obligation of the employer to maintain and report those records. The employer shall also provide each employee a written copy of the notification not later than 30 days after the form of the notification is issued, or, if the employee is hired after the issuance, at the time of the employee’s hiring. In adopting the regulation regarding the notification requirement, the commissioner shall, to the greatest extent practicable, design the notification in a manner which coordinates or consolidates the notification with any other notifications required pursuant to State wage, benefit and tax laws, as defined in section 1 of this act. The notification shall also provide information on how an employee or the employee’s authorized representative, may contact, by telephone, mail and e-mail, a representative of the commissioner to provide information to, or file a complaint with, the representative regarding possible violations of the requirements of this act or any State wage, benefit and tax law, as defined in section 1 of this act, or may obtain information about any actual violation, including any audit undertaken pursuant to this act.

b. No employer shall discharge or in any other manner discriminate against an employee because the employee has made an inquiry or complaint to his employer, to the commissioner or to his authorized representative regarding any possible violation by the employer of the provisions of this act or any State wage, benefit and tax laws, as defined in section 1 of this act, or because the employee has caused to be instituted or is about to cause to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this act or those laws, or because the employee has testified or is about to testify in the proceeding.

c. Any employer who violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000. In the case of a discharge or other discriminatory action in violation of this section, the employer shall also be required to offer reinstatement in employment to the discharged employee and to correct any discriminatory action, and to pay to the employee all reasonable legal costs of the action, all wages and benefits lost as a result of the discharge or discriminatory action, plus punitive damages equal to two times the lost wages and benefits, under penalty of contempt proceedings for failure to comply with the requirement.

L.2009, c.194, s.4.