Bill Text: NJ A695 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Expands wage and hour law good-faith violation defense to DOLWD employee interpretations; establishes procedure for employer to obtain opinion from DOLWD on overtime obligations.
Spectrum: Unknown
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee [A695 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A695-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman MICHAEL TORRISSI, JR.
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Expands wage and hour law good-faith violation defense to DOLWD employee interpretations; establishes procedure for employer to obtain opinion from DOLWD on overtime obligations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning good-faith faith wage and hour violations by employers and amending P.L.1967, c.216 and supplementing P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1967, c.216 (C.34:11-56a25.2) is amended to read as follows:
2. a. In any action or proceeding commenced prior to or on or after the date of the enactment of this act based on any act or omission prior to or on or after the date of the enactment of this act, no employer shall be subject to any liability or punishment for or on account of the failure of the employer to pay minimum wages or overtime compensation under this act, if he pleads and proves that the act or omission complained of was in good faith in conformity with and in reliance on any:
(1) written administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval or interpretation by the Commissioner of [the Department of Labor and Industry] Labor and Workforce Development, or the commissioner's authorized representative, or the Director of the [Wage and Hour Bureau] Division of Wage and Hour Compliance, or the director's authorized representative[, or any];
(2) administrative practice or enforcement policy of [such] the department or [bureau] division with respect to the class of employers to which he belonged;
(3) opinion or ruling 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," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.), in accordance with section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill); or
(4) ruling or determination 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.
Such a defense, if established, shall be a complete bar to the action or proceeding, notwithstanding, that after such act or omission, such administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval, interpretation, practice, or enforcement policy is modified or rescinded or is determined by judicial authority to be invalid or of no legal effect. 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.
(cf: P.L.1967, c.216, s.2)
2. Within two months from the effective date of P.L. c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Department of Labor and Workforce Development shall 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," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.). Upon written request from an employer for an opinion or ruling of the employer's overtime obligations, including but not limited to, an electronic request submitted on the department's internet website, the department shall, within two weeks of receipt of the request, issue a written opinion or ruling stating the employer's overtime obligations. The department shall prominently display on its internet website the procedure and all information, or a link to the information, required for an employer to submit a request for an opinion or ruling in accordance with this section.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
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.
