New Jersey Minimum Wage 2015 is $8.38

Effective January 1,2015 the New Jersey minimum wage increases from $8.25 to $8.38 per hour, an increase of 13 cents. In an unusually long-winded memo (or “advisory, consultative, deliberative and confidential communication”…you get the idea) the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Wage and Hour Compliance issued the notice recently.

Under NJAC 12:56-3.1(b), the NJ minimum wage is adjusted for inflation each year. There is no defined criteria for the increase, but the federal Consumer Price Index or CPI is usually cited. This year, the CPI indicated a 1.59% increase, resulting in the 13 cent wage hike.

In New Jersey, as in other states, an employee covered by both state and federal law is entitled to the greater benefit. Since the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, employees covered by both laws are entitled to the higher New Jersey minimum wage of $8.38.

Currently the New Jersey tipped minimum wage is $2.13 per hour, the same as the federal tipped minimum wage. If an employee does not average the minimum wage in total tips plus wages over a payroll period, the employer must pay the difference as wages.

In 2014, the New Jersey state legislature considered Bill A857 that would raise the tipped minimum wage to $5.70 per hour by the end of 2015. However, that bill was not passed.

New Jersey employers must update their minimum wage posters no later than January 1, 2015 or face penalties for noncompliance. Our favorite source of labor law posters is www.laborlawcenter.com.