New Jersey Overtime Laws

What are New Jersey Overtime Laws?

New Jersey Overtime laws are instituted and enforced by the Division of Wage and Hour Compliance administration. This agency administers and enforces the state’s labor laws through the enforcement of minimum wage, laws concerning child employment and methods of wage payments. The Division of Wage and Hour Compliance also regulates the overtime wage rate.

The New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law mandate the payment of time and one half per hour for all employees working in excess of 40 hours. These are the basic New Jersey overtime laws; however, certain exemptions are attached to said policy.

To be exempt—according to New Jersey Overtime Laws—as an executive employee, an individual must:

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must regularly direct the work of multiple (two or more) full-time employees

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must possesses management as his/her primary job function

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must possess the authority to hire and terminate or recommended said action or other changes in an employee’s working status

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must be compensated on a salary basis

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must Spend no more than 1/5th of their time in activities not closely related to any of the above duties or 40% in a service or retail establishment

To be exempt—according to New Jersey Overtime Laws—as an Administrative Employee, a person must:

• Possess as their “primary duty” the following:

o NJ Overtime laws states the employee must partake in Non-manual or office work related to management policies or traditional business operations

o NJ Overtime laws states the employee must perform work in an educational administration function, aka work directly related to training or academic instruction

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must partake Regularly exercise independent judgment and discretion

• NJ Overtime laws states the employee must assist bona fide executives or other administrative employees

• Perform general supervision work that is technical or specialized that requires special training, knowledge or experience

• Perform special assignments under only general supervision

To be exempt as a Professional Employee—according to New Jersey Overtime Laws—one must:

• Have his/her primary duties include :

o Advanced knowledge typically requiring extensive education

o Creativity in a recognized artistic field

o Teaching imparting knowledge as a formal professor or teacher in an academic institution

o Practical application of highly specialized knowledge in computer platforms, programming, software engineering etc.

• Constantly exercises discretion and judgment

• Performs work that is predominantly eclectic and intellectual and which cannot be standardized in relation to a given time frame

• Spend no more than 20% of working hours—during a typical work week—in activities viewed as non-essential to the above duties

• Compensated on a “salary basis”

New Jersey Overtime Laws: Off-Clock Work

If you do not fit any of the above classifications (typically hourly employees) and you are required—by your employer—to work “off the clock” you will typically be entitled to overtime compensation. Some examples of working “off the clock” include the following:

• Your supervisor or manager requires you to complete a task before leaving work but argues that is taking too long and requires you to clock out while expecting you complete the task before leaving

• Uniforms are changed at work before an employee clocks in and changes after an employee clocks out

For a complete list of NJ overtime laws, please visit the following page.