34:6B-13 Definitions relative to certain employment rights of persons with criminal records.

3. As used in this act:

"Advertisement" means any circulation, mailing, posting, or any other form of publication, utilizing any media, promoting an employer or intending to alert its audience, regardless of size, to the availability of any position of employment.

"Applicant for employment" means any person whom an employer considers when identifying potential employees, through any means, including, but not limited to, recruitment, solicitation, or seeking personal information, or any person who requests to be considered for employment by an employer, or who requests information from an employer related to seeking employment, and shall include any person who currently is an employee of the employer.

"Criminal record" means information collected by criminal justice agencies on individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, or other formal criminal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, including acquittal, sentencing, correctional supervision, release or conviction, including, but not limited to, any sentence arising from a verdict or plea of guilty or nolo contendere, including a sentence of incarceration, a suspended sentence, a sentence of probation, or a sentence of conditional discharge.

"Employee" shall mean a person who is hired for a wage, salary, fee, or payment to perform work for an employer, but excludes any person employed in the domestic service of any family or person at the person's home, any independent contractors, or any directors or trustees. The term also shall include interns and apprentices.

"Employer" means any person, company, corporation, firm, labor organization, or association which has 15 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks and does business, employs persons, or takes applications for employment within this State, including the State, any county or municipality, or any instrumentality thereof. The term shall include job placement and referral agencies and other employment agencies, but excludes the United States or any of its departments, agencies, boards, or commissions, or any employee or agent thereof.

"Employment" means any occupation, vocation, job, or work with pay, including temporary or seasonal work, contingent work, and work through the services of a temporary or other employment agency; any form of vocational apprenticeship; or any internship. The physical location of the prospective employment shall be in whole, or substantial part, within this State.

"Employment application" means a form, questionnaire or similar document or collection of documents that an applicant for employment is required by an employer to complete.

"Initial employment application process" means the period beginning when an applicant for employment first makes an inquiry to an employer about a prospective employment position or job vacancy or when an employer first makes any inquiry to an applicant for employment about a prospective employment position or job vacancy, and ending when an employer has conducted a first interview, whether in person or by any other means of an applicant for employment.

L.2014, c.32, s.3.