New Jersey’s new mandatory minimum wage requirement will be effective January 1, 2022.
For most employers, the 2022 minimum wage for compensating employees will be $13 per hour (up from $12 per hour in 2021). For tipped employees, the minimum cash wage the employer will be able to pay is $5.13 per hour (up from $4.13 per hour in 2021), provided that the cash wage paid by the employer plus tips earned by the employee equals the $13 per hour minimum wage.
There are other exceptions to the $13 per hour general minimum wage requirement. For example, the minimum wage requirement may not be applicable to certain employees “in training,” seasonal workers, small employers (fewer than six employees), agricultural workers, and direct care staff at long-term care facilities.
The minimum wage increase which goes into effect on January 1, 2022, is one step in a series of incremental minimum wage increases scheduled to take place annually until January 1, 2024 when the minimum wage for most workers will increase to $15 an hour. These minimum wage increases are required under an amendment to New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Law signed into law by Governor Murphy in 2019. Saiber LLC discussed the amendment in a February 7, 2019 article available here.