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With backing from former workers at Toys "R" Us Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. left with little or no severance after their stores closed, New Jersey lawmakers voted on Thursday to require companies to provide compensation to employees dismissed in mass layoffs, Bloomberg News reported. The legislation, approved by the New Jersey Senate Commerce Committee, is the first of its kind among U.S. states, according to one of its sponsors, Senator Joseph Cryan (D) and Jack Raisner, a New York employment attorney who helped draft it. The bill also would extend the employee notice period for mass firings to 90 days from 60 and require warnings about impending bankruptcy filings. The bill is applicable to employers that plan to fire at least 50 workers. It was condemned by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association as a turn-off to companies considering coming to the state. The Trenton-based group also opposed the $15 minimum-wage law, which Governor Phil Murphy signed Feb. 4, as unaffordable and slammed his fiscal 2019 budget for its corporate-tax increase.

A U.S. agency that insures worker pensions sought permission on Friday to take over two underfunded Sears Holdings Corp. pension plans, after objecting to Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert’s proposed $5.2 billion buyout of the bankrupt retailer, Reuters reported. In a complaint filed in Chicago federal court, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp asked to be named trustee of the pension plans, which it said are underfunded by $1.4 billion and cover about 90,000 Sears and Kmart employees and retirees. The PBGC also asked that the plans be terminated as of Jan. 31, 2019. Friday’s request came six days after the PBGC objected to the takeover of Sears by Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Investments, which had won an auction for the Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based retailer last month. In a filing with the White Plains, New York court overseeing Sears’ chapter 11 case, the PBGC said Lampert’s proposal would strip its rights in trademarks and licensing royalties from the DieHard and Kenmore brands.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said yesterday that all federal employees should receive back pay they missed during the 35-day government shutdown by the end of the week, The Hill reported. Mulvaney said that the timing depends on which payroll provider their agency uses. "Some of them could be early this week, some of them may be later this week," he said. "But we hope that by the end of this week all of the back pay will be made up, and of course the next payroll will go out on time." He did not elaborate on whether federal contractors who went unpaid during the shutdown will receive compensation for their work, saying that it will "depend on the contract." Roughly 800,000 federal employees were furloughed or required to work without pay during the partial government shutdown that ended Friday after 35 days. Most workers missed two paychecks during that period.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) said that it is taking steps to assume responsibility for bankrupt retailer Sears Holdings Corp.’s two pension plans, covering about 90,000 people, Reuters reported. The agency said that it is stepping in to oversee the retirement benefits of employees and retirees at Sears, Roebuck and Co and Kmart Corp as it is clear that Sears' continuation of the plans is no longer possible. Sears Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy in October, said on Thursday that Chairman Eddie Lampert won an auction to buy the once iconic U.S. retailer after presenting an improved offer of $5.2 billion. The PBGC estimates Sears’ pension plans are underfunded by $1.4 billion, leaving them 64 percent funded. The agency said that it is seeking to end plans as of Jan. 31 and added it would become responsible for the pension plans when Sears agrees or a court orders plan termination.

Westmoreland Coal Co. is seeking to break two union contracts and terminate retiree benefits totaling an estimated $329 million, saying dramatic cuts to its labor costs are needed in order to sell its coal mines to lenders and avoid liquidation, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Englewood, Colo.-based company said in court papers filed on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston that it hasn’t received any qualified bids for mines it attempted to auction in chapter 11 other than an existing offer from senior lenders. Now, Westmoreland intends to move forward with that offer, a transaction that requires the company to scrap collective bargaining agreements and terminate retiree benefits. Read more. 

In related news deals and activist campaigns at mining companies are picking up, but it may not be enough to rekindle investor enthusiasm for the group, the Wall Street Journal reported. The value of mining deals surpassed $10 billion in September for the first time in nearly four years, then topped that threshold again in November and earlier this month, Dealogic data show. Even so, the industry continues to be plagued by tepid metals prices, battles with emerging-market governments over reserves and dwindling supplies. For investors, growth potential just doesn’t stack up relative to other industries, said Lucas Pipes, a mining analyst at B. Riley. Read more. (Subscription required.)