Wage and Hour Defense Blog

Joining California and New York, New Jersey has become the third state with a phased-in $15 minimum wage requirement for most employees. On February 4, 2019, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law A15 (“Law”), which raises the state minimum wage rate for employers with six or more employees to $10.00 per hour on July 1, 2019, and then to $11.00 per hour on January 1, 2020. Thereafter, the minimum wage will increase annually on January 1 by $1.00 per hour until it reaches $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2024. The minimum wage hike will phase in at a slower rate for employers with five or ...

On January 17, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and legislative leaders announced an agreement to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. Under the agreement, and presuming enactment, effective July 1, 2019, the state’s minimum wage for most workers will increase from $8.85 to $10 an hour; thereafter, it will increase $1 an hour every January 1 until reaching $15 on January 1, 2024.

For seasonal workers and employees of small businesses (i.e., five or fewer workers), the ramp-up to $15 an hour would extend to 2026. For farmworkers, the base minimum wage would ...