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Senators press department on internships, nonprofit cuts and requests for spending spreadsheets
Summary
Committee members asked whether interns must be paid, warned about proposed cuts to Access New Jersey providers serving people with disabilities, and requested detailed spreadsheets on recipients and amounts; the department agreed to provide documentation.
Senators used the hearing to press for clarifications on workforce program rules and proposed budget changes affecting service providers.
On internships, lawmakers asked whether unpaid internships remain legal. Commissioner Robert Sciro Angelo and the department's wage-hour lead said interns generally must be paid under federal and state law unless the internship provides college credit and meets criteria that prevent the intern from replacing a paid worker. "You can work free of pay if you're getting college credits," the wage-hour official summarized, adding that the experience must primarily benefit the intern and not substitute for a paid employee.
Committee members also raised concerns about a governor's budget proposal they said would reduce $3,400,000 in funding for certain nonprofit organizations that provide employment supports for people with disabilities (members of Access New Jersey). The senator asked whether the department's earlier testimony that funding was increasing was accurate. Commissioner Sciro Angelo said he could not confirm the specific budget line at the hearing, noted extended employment facilities had seen a 77% increase in per-participant reimbursement since 02/2019, and agreed to provide a recipient-and-amount spreadsheet and other requested accounting through the committee chair.
Finally, senators asked the department to provide an accounting of spending on enforcement in public-employee occupational safety and health, including personnel numbers and non-personnel costs; the commissioner agreed to supply those figures to the committee.
