Bill > S91

Introduced Session

This bill provides that the good faith defense against violations of the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law" based on an administrative regulation, ruling, approval, or interpretation by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development or the Director of the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance be expanded to include regulations, rulings, approval, or interpretation by the authorized representatives of the commissioner or director. Current law only provides the good faith defense for decisions made by the commissioner or the director themselves. For the purposes of this section, "authorized representative" means an employee of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development or the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance, as appropriate, operating within the scope of his or her normal responsibilities. This bill is in response to the issues raised by Branch v. Cream-O-Land Dairy, 459 N.J. Super. 529 (App. Div. 2019) concerning a violation of the law that was upheld as a violation because the corrective ruling which the violator sought regarding compliance was made by an employee of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and not the commissioner.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Jean Stanfield (R)*, 

Senate Labor Hearing (10:00 12/1/2022 Committee Room 6, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ) (on 12/01/2022)

Official Document