§ 30:11A-10 — Penalties for operating uncertified, unlicensed residential health care facility.

10. a. Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, society, or association who shall operate or conduct a residential health care facility without first obtaining the certificate of approval or license required by P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1 et seq.), or who shall operate such establishment after revocation or suspension of a certificate of approval or license, shall be liable to a penalty of $10.00 for each day of operation in violation hereof for the first offense, and for any subsequent offense shall be liable to a penalty of $20.00 for each day of operation in violation hereof. The penalties authorized by this section shall be recovered in a summary proceeding, brought in the name of the State of New Jersey pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.74 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). Money penalties, when recovered, shall be payable to the General State Fund. The Department of Health or the Department of Community Affairs, as appropriate, may, in the manner provided by law, maintain an action in the name of the State of New Jersey for injunctive relief against any person, firm, corporation, partnership, society, or association that continues to conduct, manage, or operate a residential health care facility without a certificate of approval or license, or after suspension or revocation of such certificate of approval or license. The practice and procedure in actions instituted under authority of this section shall conform to the practice and procedure in the court in which the action is instituted. No officer or agent of any municipal or county agency having responsibility for making payments of any form of public assistance under the provisions of Title 44 of the Revised Statutes, shall make such payments to or on behalf of a person residing in a residential health care facility as defined in P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1 et seq.), unless such establishment is, at the time of such payment, approved or provisionally approved pursuant to P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1 et seq.). b. No residential health care facility, licensed hereunder, shall by public or private advertisement or by any other means hold out to the public that it is equipped to provide post-operative or convalescent care for persons with a mental illness or an intellectual disability or who are suffering or recovering from illness or injury or who are critically ill. Any person, firm, association, partnership, society, or corporation who violates the provisions of this subsection shall cease and desist from such practices and shall be liable to a penalty of $100.00 for the first offense and $200.00 for each subsequent offense, which penalties shall be recovered in the manner provided for in subsection a. of this section. c. No residential health care facility licensed hereunder, shall operate as a private mental hospital, convalescent home, private nursing home, or private hospital, unless it is licensed pursuant to chapter 11 of Title 30 of the Revised Statutes. Whenever there is reason to believe that any such facility or institution is in violation of the provisions of this subsection, the Department of Health or the Department of Community Affairs, as appropriate, may conduct a reasonable inspection of the premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is any violation. Any facility or institution which violates the provisions of this subsection shall be liable to a penalty of $25.00 for each day of operation in violation of this subsection for the first offense and to a penalty of $50.00 for each day of operation for any subsequent offense. The Department of Health and the Department of Community Affairs, with the approval of the Attorney General, are hereby authorized and empowered to compromise and settle claims for the monetary penalty in appropriate circumstances where it appears to the satisfaction of the department that payment of the full penalty will work severe hardship on any individual not having sufficient financial ability to pay the full penalty but in no case shall the penalty be compromised for a sum less than $250.00 for the first offense and $500.00 for any subsequent offense; provided, however, that any penalty of less than $250.00 or $500.00, as the case may be, may be compromised for a lesser sum. The penalties authorized by this subsection shall be recovered in the manner provided for in subsection a. of this section. d. No owner, operator, or employee of a residential health care facility shall serve notice upon a resident to leave the premises, or take any other action in retaliation for: (1) the efforts of the resident or a person acting on the resident's behalf to secure or enforce any rights under a contract, the laws of this State or any of its subdivisions, or the laws of the United States; or (2) the good faith complaint of a resident or a person acting on the resident's behalf to a governmental authority concerning the owner, operator, or employee's alleged violation of P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1 et seq.) or any health or safety law, regulation, code, or ordinance, or other law or regulation which has as its objective the regulation of residential health care facilities. L.1953, c.212, s.10; amended 1964, c.147, s.7; 1979, c.496, s.32; 2010, c.50, s.59; 2017, c.234, s.4.