Official Site of The State of New Jersey

• NJDOL does not ask about your immigration or citizenship status.
• We have strong privacy protections for all worker information.
• You have the right to file a complaint and exercise your rights without fear.

Protection from Retaliation
New Jersey law protects you. Your employer cannot threaten you, fire you, cut your hours, or take other negative actions because you exercised your legal rights. If they do, they face penalties.

Additional Protections for Immigrant Workers
It is illegal for an employer to threaten to report your immigration status as a way to silence you or avoid paying you. Employers who do this face enhanced penalties.

·       NJDOL can certify U and T visa applications for victims of crimes including domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

💰 Minimum Wage
As of January 1, 2026, the New Jersey minimum wage is $15.92/hour for most workers.

🕓Overtime
You must be paid 1.5x your regular rate for every hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Exception: Certain salaried executive, administrative, or professional employees may be exempt.

📅 Frequency of Pay
Most employers must pay wages at least twice per calendar month on a regularly scheduled payday. Exception: Some executive or supervisory employees may be paid once per month.

🏥 Earned Sick Leave
Most employees earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Learn more about the Earned Sick Leave law.

👶 Temporary Disability & Family Leave Insurance (TDI/FLI)

You may qualify for cash benefits if you need to stop working to:

• Recover from your own illness, injury, or pregnancy
• Care for a sick or injured family member
• Bond with a new child
• Cope with domestic or sexual violence

Your job may also be protected under federal and/or state law. 

💲 Unemployment Insurance
Lost your job through no fault of your own? You may qualify for up to 26 weeks of financial support. Check your eligibility here.

🚫 Retaliation Is Illegal
Your employer cannot fire you, cut your hours, or punish you for asking about or exercising your rights. New Jersey law provides a 90-day protection window: If your employer takes negative action within 90 days of you filing a complaint or asserting your rights, it is presumed to be retaliation—and the burden is on them to prove otherwise.

🗂️Recordkeeping
Employers must keep wage and hour records for a period of six years—including the names of employees, the total hours worked, the earning of each employee, and more.

Knowing how to recognize and report trafficking can save lives.

What Is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking occurs when someone uses force, fraud, or threats to control another person — making them work against their will or exploiting them sexually.

What Does Labor Trafficking Look Like?
Labor traffickers force individuals to work—often for little or no pay—by exploiting vulnerabilities like immigration status, economic hardship, or lack of social support. Labor traffickers use violence, threats, lies, and other forms of coercion to force people to work against their will.

Here are some examples:

• Mary is a domestic worker living with a family that brought her from another country. They pay her less than minimum wage and threaten to call ICE if she reports them or tries to leave.
• Leo works construction for a company that paid his bills when he started — then they used that debt to force him to work in unsafe conditions for almost no pay.

What Does Sex Trafficking Look Like?
Sex traffickers force individuals to perform sex for money through the use of lies, violence, false promises, force, fraud, or coercion. Traffickers will target people because of their vulnerabilities, such as poverty, unstable housing, or a history of abuse. 

Here’s an example:

• Rachel met Matt, who started a romantic relationship with her and gave her gifts. He then pressured and threatened her into having sex with other men for money.

🆘 Get Help or Report Trafficking

• 📞 NJ Human Trafficking Hotline (Tips/Reports): 855-363-6548
• 📞 Covenant House (Victim Assistance): 862-240-2453

Misclassifying employees as independent contractors—whether intentional or not—is illegal in New Jersey. Paying workers cash "off the books" or "under the table" is also illegal.

Why It Matters

⚠️ Receiving a 1099 instead of a W-2 does not automatically make you an independent contractor. You may still legally be an employee.

New Jersey's "ABC Test"
New Jersey presumes workers are employees. To classify someone as an independent contractor, the employer must prove all three of the following:

A: The worker is free from control over how they perform their work, both in contract and in practice.

B: The work is outside the usual course of the employer's business, or performed outside the employer's place of business.

C: The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business.

If the employer cannot prove all three, the worker is an employee.

New Jersey's Panic Device Law
Hotel employers are required by law to provide panic devices to employees who work alone in guest rooms.

What is a panic device?
A wearable or pocket-sized two-way radio or electronic device that lets an employee immediately summon help from security, a manager, or another appropriate staff member.

Employer responsibilities:

• Provide the device at no cost to the employee
• Supply batteries and necessary accessories
• Maintain, repair, and replace devices as needed
• Never charge employees for any costs related to the device

How to use a panic device:

1. Activate the panic device.
2. Leave the room immediately.
3. Wait for help to arrive (security, a manager, or appropriate staff).
4. The employer notifies law enforcement of any suspected crime.

Employees can use their panic device without fear of punishment or retaliation. Click here to file a panic device complaint against an employer.

Human Trafficking at Hotels
Hotels are a common location for labor and sex trafficking, and incidents often increase during major sporting events.

📞 NJ Human Trafficking Hotline: 855-363-6548

📞 Covenant House (Victim Assistance): 862-240-2453

Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers

• Employers may take a "tip credit" — paying a lower cash wage if tips make up the difference to reach minimum wage ($15.92/hour in 2026).
• Minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $6.05/hour.
• Tips + cash wage must equal at least $15.92/hour. If they don't, the employer must pay the difference.

Tips Belong to the Worker — Period.

• An employer may never take any portion of an employee's tips for any reason.
• Employers cannot deduct credit card processing fees from an employee's tips — even a small percentage is prohibited.

Tip Pooling
Combining and redistributing tips among staff at the end of a shift is allowed, with conditions:

• Employers must notify employees of any required tip pool contribution amount.
• Employers may only claim a tip credit for tips the employee actually receives after pooling.
• Tips cannot be distributed to non-tipped employees.
• Employers cannot keep any portion of the pool.

Prevailing Wage Requirements
Some construction projects related to the World Cup™ may qualify as public works, which means additional legal requirements apply—including prevailing wage laws.

Who is covered?
Prime contractors and subcontractors working on state or political subdivision construction contracts that exceed the current threshold. This includes carpenters, plumbers, laborers, equipment operators, and more.

What is prevailing wage?
A required minimum wage rate set for each trade and craft, based on the county or location of the work — typically higher than standard minimum wage. Click here to find the current prevailing wage rate for your county.

Report a Safety Violation
Workers at private companies should contact federal OSHA to file a health and safety complaint.

Public Employees
Any public employee or public employee representative may contact the Office of Public Employees' Occupational Safety and Health (OPEOSH) with any safety or health issues/concerns. 

• OPEOSH covers all state and local government workers, which includes public boards, commissions, authorities, agencies (except for bi-state agencies), departments, and divisions at the state, county, and local levels.
• OPEOSH also covers volunteer fire, rescue, medical, and law enforcement personnel affiliated with or providing service to any municipal, county, or state coverage area within its jurisdiction.
• Public Employees can file a health and safety complaint using this form. Forms can be submitted by email to peosha@dol.nj.gov.
• Any public employee who believes they have been discriminated against as a result of reporting a safety or health issue/concern may file a discrimination form with our office. Forms can be submitted by email to peosha@dol.nj.gov.

Temporary Worker ➡️ Employed by a staffing agency for a specific type of work 
Staffing Agency ➡️ Hires workers and assigns them to client companies
Client Company ➡️ Where the worker actually performs their job 

Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights
Some temporary workers in NJ have additional protections under the Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights.

Important: Staffing agencies can be held as joint employers, meaning they share responsibility for wage and labor violations at the businesses they staff.

Additional Protections for Temp Workers

• Unemployment Insurance: If you lose hours or your job through no fault of your own, you may qualify for benefits.
• Health & Safety: You have the right to report unsafe conditions and receive training on workplace hazards. 
• Paid Family & Medical Leave: You may qualify for cash benefits if you can't work due to illness, pregnancy, a new child, or domestic/sexual violence. Your job may also be protected.

New Jersey's Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights protects anyone who provides childcare, eldercare, housekeeping, cooking, or similar services in a home.

Domestic workers have the right to:

• A written employment contract (click here to see a model contract example)
• A written notice of their rights
• Minimum wage and overtime
• Paid sick leave
• Reimbursement for the actual cost of food and lodging (not a marked-up rate)
• Meal and rest breaks
• Adequate sleep time
• Protection from retaliation
• Health and safety protections

Employers cannot:

• Keep original copies of a worker's personal documents (passports, visas, etc.)
• Monitor or record a worker in a bathroom, bedroom, or dressing area
• Monitor or interfere with a worker's private communications (calls, emails, etc.)

Workers cannot be punished* for:

• Filing a complaint
• Discussing alleged violations
• Talking about their rights

*Punishment includes threats, firing, hour reductions, or any other adverse action.

Immigration Relief
NJDOL covers all domestic workers regardless of immigration status. NJDOL will not share your information with immigration agencies unless required by law or unless you request it as part of an immigration relief application.

NJDOL may be able to help with U and T visa certifications for victims of certain crimes or trafficking.

🌐 nj.gov/labor/immigration
📧 immigration-relief@dol.nj.gov

Requirements for All Minors

• Must have working papers or a special permit before starting work
• Must receive a 30-minute meal break after 6 consecutive hours of work
• May not work more than 6 consecutive days in a week
• Workers under 16 may not work more than 40 hours a week and 8 hours a day, with certain exceptions for agricultural work.
• Workers 16 and up may work up to 50 hours in one week and up to 10 hours a day only between the last day of school and Labor Day.

Minimum Wage & Overtime for Minors
Workers under 18 are entitled to minimum wage in:

• Retail, food service, hotels/motels, beauty culture, laundry/cleaning, light manufacturing/apparel, and first processing of farm products

Minors under 16 cannot work more than 40 hours/week.

Minors 16–17 working in a minimum wage industry are entitled to overtime if they exceed 40 hours during summer.

Prohibited Jobs
Many jobs are off-limits to minors due to safety risks. See the full list of permitted jobs by age.

Who qualifies as a volunteer?
Under New Jersey law, a volunteer is someone who donates their service for the protection of health, safety, or the public good—such as volunteer firefighters, rescue workers, caregivers, or people assisting with religious, educational, hospital, or cultural activities.

Under federal guidance, a worker will generally be considered a volunteer if they:

• Volunteer freely, without expectation of compensation
• Are working for a public service, religious, or humanitarian purpose
• Are not replacing a paid employee
• Are not working in commercial activities run by a nonprofit (e.g., a gift shop)

Ask These Questions to Determine Volunteer vs. Employee Status:

• Is the organization a nonprofit?
• Is the work charitable, educational, or humanitarian in nature?
• Does the volunteer expect any compensation?
• Did they replace a paid employee?
• Are they working full-time, regular hours?
• Were they pressured or coerced into working without pay?
• Does the organization control their schedule or work methods?
• Is the volunteer getting anything in return for my work? (This includes money, gift cards, free tickets, meals, or other perks.)
• Is the organization a non-profit that's running a business or selling things to make money?

⚠️ If the answers suggest the person is functioning as an employee, they likely are an employee—and must be paid and protected accordingly.

GENERAL INFO FOR WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS

• Do you have questions about your rights as a worker? 
• Do you need information about your legal obligations as an employer?
• Contact us via this online form and a member of our staff will assist you.
• Click here to download helpful materials in multiple languages.

TO REPORT A WORK RIGHTS VIOLATION

• Click here to file a complaint. NOTE: A trusted person can help file a complaint on your behalf. NJDOL also has multilingual staff who can help. Your identity and other personally identifiable information are protected from disclosure to your employer and others, with limited exceptions. Click here for more information.

TO REPORT LABOR OR SEX TRAFFICKING

• Click here to contact the NJ Attorney General's Human Trafficking Unit or call their hotline at 855-END-NJHT (855-363-6548).