[co-author: Wolfram Ott*]

The New Year will usher in several new employment laws in New Jersey. This update summarizes these new legal requirements to help New Jersey employers prepare for 2023.

Minimum Wage Increase

A New Jersey state law signed in February 2019, sets forth mandatory increases to the state minimum wage. That law requires increases of at least $1 annually until the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour in 2024. As a result, on January 1, 2023, the statewide minimum for most employees will increase to $14.13 per hour. This increase of $1.13 exceeds the minimum $1 increase as a result of “significant increases” in the Consumer Price Index.

For employees not covered under this increase, January 1, 2023, will also bring new industry specific minimum wages. Seasonal employees and employees of “small employers” will see an increase to $12.93 per hour, the agricultural workers’ minimum wage increases to $12.01, and the minimum wage for long-term care facility direct care staff will increase to $17.13 per hour.

In New Jersey, a “seasonal employer” is any employer that:

• Exclusively provides its services in a continuous period of not more than ten weeks during the months of June, July, August, and September;
• Received at least two-thirds of its gross receipts in the immediately previous calendar year in a continuous period of not more than sixteen weeks; or
• Paid 75 percent or more of wages during the immediately preceding year for work performed during a single...

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