New Jersey Employee Rights: A Comprehensive Guide to Workplace Protections
Introduction
New Jersey employee rights are the legal protections granted to employees working in the state of New Jersey. These rights cover areas such as minimum wage, overtime pay, discrimination protection, sick leave, and unemployment benefits.
This article will provide an in-depth look at New Jersey employee rights and the various protections afforded to employees by state and federal law. We will discuss the New Jersey labor laws that protect workers’ rights in different areas and what implications these rights may have for employers in the state.
Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay
New Jersey has its minimum wage and overtime pay laws that serve to protect workers’ rights to fair compensation. The state minimum wage increases every year, with a current minimum wage of $12 per hour. Additionally, workers in New Jersey are entitled to overtime pay of one and a half times their regular hourly wage for each hour worked over forty hours per week.
New Jersey’s overtime law requires employers to pay overtime compensation to both non-exempt and hourly employees who have worked over forty hours. The overtime rate of one and a half times their regular hourly rate applies to hours worked over forty hours within the workweek (seven consecutive days) or eight hours per day.
Unpaid Wages
In addition to minimum wage and overtime pay requirements, New Jersey law also provides for penalties where employers refuse to pay an employee’s wages as and when due. New Jersey employers are, therefore, under an obligation to pay employee wages on the scheduled pay dates, and this excludes vacation pay, commissions, and bonuses.
The penalty for unpaid wages in New Jersey is essentially the wages owed plus an additional amount of wages equal to 20% of what was owed, attorney’s fees and reasonable expenses of enforcement.
Discrimination Protection
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJ LAD) prohibit employment discrimination based on various characteristics. The NJ LAD applies to employers with 15 or more employees and covers the following characteristics, among others:
– Race or color
– National origin or ancestry
– Religion
– Age
– Gender or gender identity
– Pregnancy or childbirth
– Disability
Additionally, the NJ LAD prohibits retaliation against employees who complain about discrimination. Employees who experience job discrimination can file a complaint with the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR).
New Jersey Family and Medical Leave Act
The New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) provides employees with up to twelve weeks of job-protected leave in a twenty-four (24) month period to care for a newborn or an adopted or foster child, to care for a family member, or to manage their medical conditions.
The NJFLA covers employees who have been employed by their current employer for over a year and have worked for the employer for at least 1,000 hours in the preceding 12 months. The leave under the NJFLA is unpaid, but employees can use their accrued vacation or sick time while they are on leave.
Sick Leave
Under the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act, employers in New Jersey are required to provide their employees with paid sick leave. The Act applies to employers of all sizes and covers all employees who work in New Jersey, including part-time and temporary workers.
Employers in New Jersey must provide their employees with one hour of sick leave for every thirty hours worked. Employees may carry over up to forty unused sick leave hours to the following year. Employers who fail to provide their employees with sick time can face fines, penalties, and sanctions.
Worker’s Compensation
New Jersey law also requires employers to provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. Workers’ compensation benefits cover employees who are injured or fall ill while performing work-related duties.
In New Jersey, the workers’ compensation law offers broad coverage for work-related injuries. However, not all employees are covered. Instead, coverage is mandatory for all employees, and employers can’t use contractual agreements or waivers to reduce their workers’ compensation responsibilities.
Employer Retaliation
New Jersey law also includes provisions that protect employees from retaliation by their employers. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who have:
– Refused to obey an employer’s order to perform an illegal act,
– Reported or complained about illegal acts or discriminatory practices, or
– Engaged in protected conduct like filing a complaint about their working conditions.
Employees who experience retaliation can file a complaint with the state, and employers found guilty face hefty fines, penalties, and sanctions.
Conclusion
Employees in New Jersey have numerous rights that ensure fair and equal treatment in the workplace. These rights include protections against workplace discrimination, minimum wage and overtime pay, and access to paid sick leave, family and medical leave, and worker’s compensation benefits.
Employers in New Jersey should ensure that they fully understand their obligations under the law and take necessary steps to protect their employees’ rights. Failure to comply with the New Jersey employment laws may expose employers to costly lawsuits and legal penalties, which could damage the company’s reputation, finances, and overall survival.
Important New Jersey Employee Rights:
New Jersey Employee Rights: Background Checks
In New Jersey, it is not uncommon for an employer to perform a background check on all prospective employees. Background checks, with regards to New Jersey Employee Rights, are perfectly legal so long as they do not impede on specific laws or agency regulations. For instance, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights takes the position that an employer may not delve into a prospective employee’s arrest record. Convictions, on the other hand, are perfectly legal so long as they shed some light on the applicant’s behavior and qualifications for the respective position.
New Jersey Employee Rights; Wage Disputes & Minimum Wage Laws
The minimum wage in New Jersey is currently set at the federal minimum wage level: $7.25. New Jersey employee rights requires employer to provide “non-exempt” pay to employees time and a half for any overtime work (any work in excess of the standard forty-hour work week. The New Jersey Wage & Hour Law provides that executive, administrative, professional and other employees are “exempt” and are not entitled to the 1.5 overtime pay. To find out who is exempt from these laws you should visit the United States Department of Labor’s webpage located here:
Employers routinely violate New Jersey Employee Rights with regards to overtime laws by classifying a non-exempt employee as exempt. Employers also violate these laws when they provide “comp time” instead of paying the required overtime. If you feel as though your employer is illegally preventing you from receiving overtime pay, you should contact an employee rights attorney to discuss your New Jersey employee rights.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Break Periods
Unlike most states, New Jersey employee rights DO NOT include any laws pertaining to breaks. The state of New Jersey does not apply any law that entitles employees (except those under the age of 18 years old) to any breaks, no matter how long they work for. Currently, a New Jersey employee must rely on federal regulations, including those instituted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Although New Jersey employee rights do not account for breaks, bills have been introduced in both the state Senate and Assembly that, if passed, will provide employees with meal breaks and protected rest periods. Specifically, the bills provide breaks to employees who work more than six consecutive hours. According to the bill, these workers would be entitled to a 30-minute food break. For employees who work more than four consecutive hours, a 15-minute rest break would be applied.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Defamation
The majority of prospective employers check references before making hiring decisions. This process means that the employer will call your previous employers listed on your resume to inquire about your attitude and performance. A lot of New Jersey companies institute a policy to only provide dates of employment, salary and other generic information while others will ask more probing questions to your previous employer.
If your previous employer gives you a bad reference and ultimately hinders your ability to find new work it is possible to file an action for defamation. Defamation refers to the publication of a false statement that damages the reputation of another. “Publication” is the legal meaning delivering said information to someone else. The statement does not have to formally publish in a magazine or newspaper to be defaming. What it must be—to win a defamation suit—is false. If the information your old employer relayed to your prospective employer is true, you do not have a case for defamation. However, if your previous employer is acting out of spite and exaggerating your performance, you can—according to New Jersey employee rights—pursuit a case for defamation.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Drug Testing
New Jersey Employee Rights does not apply a statute that protects employees from alcohol or random drug testing at work. That being said, the New Jersey Supreme Court suggested that random testing may be an invasion of an employee’s right to privacy. At the same time; however, the court held that where a job’s safety is a legitimate concern of an employer, random drug and/or alcohol testing may be instituted.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Employee Privacy
NJ Employee Rights are not too strong. Because of this, all New Jersey employees should be careful when engaging in sensitive personal communications while on the job. In most cases, New Jersey employers may read any correspondence made from employer-owned computer portals. Even the smallest of New Jersey employers institute their own NJ employee rights that make e-mail servers, copy machines and fax machines property of the company. New Jersey employees, therefore, have no reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to said machines. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities—a prominent organization responsible for implementing NJ employee rights–also permits employers to monitor employee telephone conversation. In many industries, including the security sector, phone calls are required to be monitored as a NJ employee right. That being said, New Jersey employee rights force employers to only listen to such correspondences for specific purposes, including quality assurance and training. NJ employee rights also state that employees must be informed before prior to calling that their correspondences will be monitored.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Leave Rights
New Jersey employee rights protect employees through both the New Jersey Family Leave Act and the Federal Family Medical Leave Act. The New Jersey Family Leave Act requires employers (with 50 or more employees) to provide up to 12 weeks of leave in a 2 year period for the adoption or birth of a child or for serious health conditions of parents, spouses or children. Dissimilar to the Federal Act, the NJFLA does not offer protection for an employee’s serious health condition.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Payroll and Paychecks
New Jersey employee rights require the majority of employees in New Jersey to be paid the full amount of their wages at least twice a month on regular paydays. Each payday—according to NJ employee rights— must be no more than 10 working days after the end of the previous pay period for which funds are delivered. Higher-ranking employees—according to NJ employee rights–including supervisors or Executives, may be paid monthly.
If an employee is fired or quits his/her job, the individual is entitled to be paid all due wages no later than the regular payday for the scheduled pay period. That being said, NJ Employees rights do not extend to pay for unused sick or vacation time unless the employee has contractual rights to said payments expressed in their employment contract. Therefore, if you plan on leaving your job and have accrued vacation and/or sick time, you should check your employee manual to determine your specific rights.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Sexual Harassment
The New Jersey Law Against Sexual Harassment and Discrimination protects all employees against sexual harassments and offers powerful remedies for victims of all types of harassment. Based on NJ employee right, there are two distinct forms of sexual harassment:
NJ Employee Rights involving Hostile Working Environment: This form of sexual harassment occurs when an employee is subjected to a hostile work environment. The victim is forced to suffer as a result of offensive touching, visible pornography, sexually explicit or charged language and other forms of unacceptable practices or actions in the workplace.
NJ Employee Rights involving Quid Pro Quo Harassment: This form of sexual harassment occurs when a boss (superior) demands or suggests sexual favors in exchange for a favorable employment maneuver (such as a promotion or raise). This form of sexual harassment can occur under the ruse of preventing an adverse action (such as being demoted or fired).
Although there are two distinct forms of sexual harassment in New Jersey, both are equally damaging and illegal. New Jersey employee rights provide protection—through the form of legal action—against these illicit behaviors.
New Jersey Employee Rights: Unemployment Benefits
What are the threshold requirements for unemployment benefits in New Jersey?
• To be eligible for unemployment compensation in New Jersey based on NJ employee rights, you must be available to work, able to work and actively seeking work
What happens if you quit; can you still get unemployment compensation?
• If you quit, you will only be able to collect unemployment compensation if you resigned for “good cause”. For instance—according to NJ employee rights– if your employer insists that you perform unethical tasks or illegal actions. If you quit under these circumstances, New Jersey Employee Rights will safeguard your right to unemployment compensation.
What happens if I get fired; can I still collect unemployment compensation?
• You, based on NJ employee rights, are entitled to unemployment compensation unless you were terminated for “misconduct.” NJ employee rights state that f misconduct will include things such as breaking company policies or severe insubordination. If the state determines—upon investigation—that you engaged in misconduct, you will be—most likely—be disqualified from receiving compensation for six weeks. If—based on NJ employee rights–it is ruled that you committed severe or gross misconduct (stealing or egregiously violating your employer’s rules) you may be permanently disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation.
