Sparta, NJT: 973.729.1880F: 973.729.1224LCRLAW.COM


   

COVID-19 Update: Stop Order for All Non-Essential Construction Effective April 10

COVID-19 Update: Stop Order for All Non-Essential Construction Effective April 10

On April 8, Governor Murphy signed Executive Order No. 122 (the “Order”). The Order provides that beginning on 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2020, the physical operations of all non-essential construction projects must cease.

“Essential construction projects” are defined as follows under the Order:

1. Projects necessary for the delivery of health care services, including but not limited to hospitals, other health care facilities, and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities;

2. Transportation projects, including roads, bridges, and mass transit facilities or physical infrastructure, including work done at airports or seaports;

3. Utility projects, including those necessary for energy and electricity production and transmission, and any decommissioning of facilities used for electricity generation;

4. Residential projects that are exclusively designated as affordable housing;

5. Projects involving pre-K-12 schools, including but not limited to, projects in Schools Development Authority districts, and projects involving higher education facilities;

6. Projects already underway involving individual single-family homes, or an individual apartment unit where an individual already resides, with a construction crew of five (5) or fewer individuals. This includes additions to single-family homes such as solar panels;

7. Projects already underway involving a residential unit for which a tenant or buyer has already entered into a legally binding agreement to occupy the unit by a certain date, and construction is necessary to ensure the unit’s availability by that date;

8. Projects involving facilities at which any one or more of the following takes place: the manufacture, distribution, storage, or servicing of goods or products that are sold by online retail businesses or essential retail businesses;

9. Projects involving data centers or facilities that are critical to a business’s ability to function;

10. Projects necessary for the delivery of essential social services, including homeless shelters;

11. Any project necessary to support law enforcement agencies or first responder units in their response to the COVID-19 emergency;

12. Any project that is ordered or contracted for by Federal, State, county, or municipal government, or any project that must be completed to meet a deadline established by the Federal government;

13. Any work on a non-essential construction project that is required to physically secure the site of the project, ensure the structural integrity of any buildings on the site, abate any hazards that would exist on the site if the construction were to remain in its current condition, remediate a site, or otherwise ensure that the site and any buildings therein are appropriately protected and safe during the suspension of the project; and

14. Any emergency repairs necessary to ensure the health and safety of residents.

If a construction project does not fit into any of the above fourteen (14) categories listed in the Order, it is deemed non-essential and all physical operations on that project must stop beginning at 8:00 p.m. on April 10.   Physical operations on non-essential construction projects may only resume once the Order is lifted.

The Order requires businesses permitted to continue essential construction projects to adopt a variety of policies to safeguard workers and other persons who come in contact with the workplace and/or job site.   A full list of those required policies can be found in the text of the Order, which is linked here.

If you have any questions or concerns about Executive Order No. 122, which also pertains to specific protections and policies for all essential retail, manufacturing, and warehousing businesses, please reach out to the Business Law Practice Group and/or the Employment and Labor Practice Group at Laddey, Clark & Ryan, LLP:


Our attorneys can also be reached by phone at (973) 729-1880