May 13, 2020
Governor Murphy signed
Executive Order 142
today to start the Garden State’s road back to being open. Non-essential construction, curbside pickup at non-essential retail businesses, and car gatherings for the purpose of drive-through and drive-in events will be allowed. The construction and non-essential retail provisions will take effect on Monday, May 18 at 6:00 AM. The car gatherings provision will take effect immediately.
As stated in a press release issued by the Governor’s office, “I’ve been clear that data will determine dates, and what we are seeing gives us confidence that we can begin the careful restart of our economy,” said Governor Murphy. “Over the past eight weeks, New Jerseyans have taken our stay-at-home order seriously and have created the conditions that make this next phase possible. The steps we are taking allow for important standards of social distancing to continue with the return of safe, responsible business operations.”
The Order permits non-essential construction projects to resume effective at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, May 18. All construction projects must abide by the social distancing, safety, and sanitization requirements that are described in detail in the Governor’s Executive Order which include but are not limited to:
- Prohibit non-essential visitors from entering the worksite.
- Engage in appropriate social distancing measures when picking up or delivering equipment or materials.
- Limit worksite meetings, inductions, and workgroups to groups of fewer than 10 individuals.
- Require individuals to maintain six feet or more distance between them wherever possible.
- Stagger work start and stop times where practicable to limit the number of individuals entering and leaving the worksite concurrently.
- Identify congested and “high-risk areas,” including but not limited to lunchrooms, breakrooms, portable rest rooms, and elevators, and limit the number of individuals at those sites concurrently where practicable.
- Stagger lunch breaks and work times where practicable to enable operations to safely continue while utilizing the least number of individuals possible at the site.
- Require infection control practices, such as regular hand washing, coughing and sneezing etiquette, and proper tissue usage and disposal; j. Limit sharing of tools, equipment, and machinery.
- Where running water is not available, provide portable washing stations with soap and/or alcohol-based hand sanitizers that have greater than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol.
- Require frequent sanitization of high-touch areas like restrooms, breakrooms, equipment, and machinery.
- When the worksite is an occupied residence, require workers to sanitize work areas and keep a distance of at least six feet from the occupants.
- Place conspicuous signage at entrances and throughout the worksite
In addition, all workers and visitors to the job site are required to wear cloth face coverings, in accordance with CDC recommendations, while on the premises, except where doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or the individual is under two years of age. The executive order also requires workers to wear gloves while on the premises. Businesses must provide, at their expense, such face coverings, and gloves for their employees. If a visitor refuses to wear a cloth face mask or a covering cannot be provided to the individual by the business at the point of entry, then the business must decline entry to the individual.
Nothing in the stated policy should prevent workers or visitors from wearing a surgical-grade mask or other more protective face covering if the individual is already in possession of such equipment, or if the business is otherwise required to provide such worker with more protective equipment due to the nature of the work involved. Where an individual declines to wear a face covering on the premises due to a medical condition that inhibits such usage, neither the business nor its staff shall require the individual to produce medical documentation verifying the stated condition.
Businesses who choose to offer curbside pickup must abide by the requirements in the Order, which include but are not limited to the following:
- In-store operations should be limited to those employees who are responsible for the operations required for curbside pickup.
- Customer transactions should be handled in advance by phone, email, facsimile, or other means that avoid person-to-person contact.
- Customers shall notify the retailer by text message, email, or phone once they arrive, or make best efforts to schedule their arrival time in advance. The customer should be asked to remain in their vehicle, if arriving by car, until store staff delivers the purchase.
- Designated employees should bring goods outside of the retail establishment and place goods directly in a customer’s vehicle when possible, avoiding person-to-person contact.
- Such businesses must follow social distancing and mitigation practices outlined in previous orders, including requiring workers to wear cloth face coverings when in contact with other workers or customers and gloves when in contact with goods or customers.
The Executive Order states that car gatherings do not violate the Governor’s ban on gatherings under Executive Order No. 107. Examples of such car gatherings include but are not limited to drive-in movies, religious services, or drive-through farms or safaris. Car gatherings will be subject restrictions which include but are not limited to the following:
- Attendees must remain in their same car throughout the gathering unless an occupant needs to get out of the vehicle for their health or safety or an occupant needs to use the restroom.
- The vehicle must always remain closed unless there is six feet of distance between other vehicles or individuals or an officer, public official or guard requires the vehicle to open. There is a further exception allowing the opening of the vehicle if necessary, for health or safety.
- Individuals organizing the gathering who are not in vehicles must follow social distancing and wear cloth face coverings.
- To the degree that a gathering requires pre-payment, or seeks donations of any kind, contactless options for pre-payment or donation, such as online or by telephone, must be offered wherever feasible.
Stay safe,
Rich Higgins, CPA
Managing Principal - New Jersey Office
McCarthy & Company
Sources: Small Business Administration and Internal Revenue Service
Disclaimer: This alert is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Information contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used as tax advice, and cannot be used by the recipient to avoid penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code. We strongly advise you to seek professional assistance with respect to your specific issue(s).
