I was asked by a friend who is applying for a CWP if he can carry at work. Previously, only a property or business owner could carry, but the new laws changed that in ways I don’t know the answers to.
My answer was “I guess, maybe, I don’t really know”. What I do know is that business owners can still have guns at work, but have no clue about employees with a CWP.
So let’s say the biz owner (a retailer) tells his employee he can carry his legally licensed CWP at work. Aside from the liability issues, because that’s NOT what the question is…
Can a biz owner give a licensed CWP holder permission to carry on the job?
If the business is not a “sensitive location” as defined by NJ (and not currently enjoined by the 3rd circuit)
AND
The business does NOT have “gun free zone” signage up
AND
The business location is “held open to the public”
Then any restrictions on carry are between the business owner/manager and the employee.
If the business location is not “held open to the public” then permission to carry must be expressed by the business owner/manager, otherwise it is illegal per NJ law.
The business may also have a no guns policy for its employees.
For example, the employee handbook for the company I work for states that employees may not be in possession of a firearm while on company business.
I have used that policy to my advantage when I received a call-out just before I was going to start teaching a class. I told my boss that I was already in possession of a firearm and had no way to divest myself of it. Therefore I was not allowed, by company policy, to answer the call-out.