New Jersey Passes Anti-Wage Theft Law
New Jersey has passed some of the strongest anti-wage theft laws in the country, with most changes taking effect immediately.
The majority of these changes increase employee protections and increase penalties.
Failure to adhere to these updated wage theft laws will result in substantial fines, imprisonment, or both, and escalate with each subsequent offense.
According to JD Supra, fines and punishments will be imposed as follows:
- “For First Violation: the employer shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and shall be punished by a fine of $500 to $1,000, or by imprisonment for 10-90 days, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”
- “For Second Violation: the employer shall be guilty of a disorderly persons offense and shall be punished by a fine of $1,000 to $2,000, or by imprisonment of 10 to 100 days, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”
- “For Third or subsequent Violation: the employer shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree, and be punished by a fine of $2,000 to $10,000 or by imprisonment of up to 18 months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.”
Employers are encouraged to review classification policies, pay, and timekeeping procedures to ensure compliance with these new regulations.
For more details about the new wage theft provisions, please click here.
The information included in this blog post originally appeared in an article from JD Supra on August 12, 2019 written by Lisa Savadijan and Howard Wexler of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
