New Jersey Poster Update and Annual Notice Reminders

The New Jersey Department of Labor has recently issued a new Wage and Hour Law Abstract poster to incorporate the minimum wage increase effective January 1, 2015. The poster is available here, and should be posted on January 1 (or before that date provided the poster displaying the current, pre-2015 minimum wage remains posted alongside it). We also remind employers of two annual notice requirements in New Jersey.

First, employers must provide each employee in New Jersey with a written copy of the gender equity notice on or before December 31 each year, and must obtain an acknowledgement from all employees that must be signed by the employee, in writing or by means of electronic verification. The required notices (in both English and Spanish), accompanied by sample acknowledgements, can be found here.

Next, New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees must annually distribute to their New Jersey employees the required notice under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA). That notice (available here) also has English and Spanish versions. Employers must insert the appropriate contact information prior to distribution to employees and posting in the workplace. It may be distributed in hard copy or electronic format. Simply having a poster or a policy in a handbook does not satisfy an employer’s notice obligation under CEPA. Unlike the gender equity notice, no acknowledgement of receipt is required for the CEPA notice (although employers might wish to obtain acknowledgements for the CEPA notice as well, to rebut a claim that an employee did not receive the notice).