Minimum Wage and Overtime

• The New Jersey minimum wage requirements cover all employees except minors and sales consultants. Minors who work in specific service sector industries such as hotel, laundry and dye industries must receive at least $7.25 per hour, the state's minimum wage as of 2011. Employees who customarily rely upon tips and commissions must receive the tipped minimum wage of $2.13 per hour, and employers must pay them any difference if they do not earn at least $7.25 per hour after tips. New Jersey's overtime regulations require employers to pay their employees overtime at 1 1/2 times their hourly rates for hours exceeding 40 hours per week, unless exempt from the federal overtime regulations.
  
  

Pay Dates

• Employers in New Jersey must provide their employees with paychecks on at least a semimonthly basis, determined by regular payday schedules. Employees have legal rights to receive paychecks at least once every two workweeks. When employers' paydays fall on federal or state holidays or on weekends, they must pay their employees before those dates. Exceptions to the pay frequency requirements allow employers to pay their salaried executive professionals once per month. The New Jersey Wage Payment Law requires employers to pay their employees all worked overtime and regular pay for each pay period, and employers may not deduct payments from paychecks for spillages, cash drawer deficiencies or breakage charges.
  
  

Pay Notices

• Under the New Jersey State Wage Payment Law, employers must provide their employees with written notice of their established paydays, their standard pay rates and any other pay policies at the time they hire their employees. Additionally, employers must post their pay practices in at least one noticeable area where employees are able to review their pay information. Employers have subsequent notification duties to notify their employees of changes when they modify their established pay policies.
  
  

Limitations and Exceptions

• If there is a dispute in the amount paid, the employee has the right to receive the benefit of the doubt to receive the disputed amount. The employer has the legal right to file a claim for overpayment of wages with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. New Jersey employees who work in the health care industry have rights to refuse mandatory overtime requirements under the New Jersey mandatory overtime restrictions laws. Unless there are extenuating circumstances and unforeseeable staffing emergencies, employers in hospitals and health care facilities cannot require their employees to work overtime. Furthermore, health care employers cannot enact policies prohibiting overtime pay for health care personnel.
  
  

Considerations

• Since employment laws can frequently change, do not use this information as a substitute for legal advice. Seek advice through an attorney licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction.