Bill > A695

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: (1) regulations, rulings, approval, or interpretation by the authorized representatives of the commissioner or director; (2) opinions or rulings that the employer obtained from the department or the division stating the employer's obligations under the overtime provisions in the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law"; and (3) rulings or determinations by a representative of the department or the division resulting from an investigation of the employer's overtime practices that concludes that the employer did not commit a violation. 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. The bill requires the DOLWD to establish a procedure for an employer to request and obtain an opinion or ruling from the department stating the employer's obligations under the overtime provisions in the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law. 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.

Committee Categories

Mike Torrissi (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document