2 Big NJ Laws Take Effect Monday

Two historic New Jersey laws take effect on Monday. And they could have a big impact on your job.

New Jersey's minimum wage is now $10 an hour, rising from $8.85. The wage will eventually rise to $15 an hour, but the first significant increase was scheduled for July 1.

And very important provisions of the Family Leave Act that was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy also take effect on Monday.

The laws take effect right after Murphy signed the 2020 fiscal year budget into law. Read more: Gov. Budget Vetoes: Can 274 NJ School Districts Still Disappear?

These family-leave provisions take effect on July 1, according to the New Jersey Business and Industry Association:

• Employers with 30 or more employees will be subject to the Family Leave Act and will need to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected family leave. Previously, the law only applied to employers with 50 or more employees.
• There is no more waiting period for family leave insurance benefits.

Already, the law says:

• Someone taking leave under the Family Leave Act can now receive benefits for up to 12 consecutive months instead of 24 weeks.
• Those who take the Family Leave Act to bond with a newborn will be able to take leave intermittently; it is no longer only available if the employer agrees.
• Employees taking paid family leave cannot be forced to use paid time off.

The benfeits of the minimum wage bill that Murphy signed into law earlier this year, meanwhile, are also starting to kick in.

Here is what the legislation will do:

• The minimum-wage base for New Jersey workers increased to $10 an hour on July 1, 2019. By Jan. 1, 2020, the statewide minimum wage will increase to $11-an-hour, and then increase by $1-an-hour every January 1st until it reaches $15 an hour on January 1, 2024.
• For seasonal workers and employees at small businesses of five workers or less, the base minimum wage will reach $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2026. By Jan. 1, 2028, workers in these groups will receive the minimum wage inclusive of inflation adjustments that take place from 2024 to 2028, equalizing the minimum wage with other New Jersey workers.
• For agricultural workers, the base minimum wage will increase to $12.5 an hour by January 1, 2024. No later than March 31, 2024, the New Jersey Labor Commissioner and Secretary of Agriculture will jointly decide whether to recommend that the minimum wage for agricultural workers increase to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2027, as specified in the bill.
• If they cannot come to an agreement, a third member, appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, will break the tie. If there is a recommendation to disapprove of the scheduled increases or suggest an alternative pathway, the Legislature will have the ability to impose that recommendation by passage of a resolution.

The minimum-wage bill was passed just days after the Murphy and legislative leaders had a well-publicized discussion – which involved an awkward encounter with an opponent of the legislation – at the Ocean Bay Diner in Sayreville.

There, they were confronted by Teddy Lutas, the diner's owner, who told the lawmakers that the increase would force him to cut back on his expenses and, quite possibly, go out of business.

Indeed, the new law raised concerns – particularly from small business owners who say they'll struggle to pay for the increase.

"We just believe this bill goes too far, too fast," said Sen. Declan J. O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth. "This is a bad idea."

Here are some of the potential pitfalls people in the business community, along with Republicans who opposed it, have cited:

Raising prices

Alli O'Neill, the owner of Colonial Bakery in Lavallette, told The Asbury Park Press that she crunched some numbers recently on the impact of a $15-an-hour minimum wage and said she will need to raise the price of a dozen doughnuts from $11 to $21 to maintain her profit margin.

O’Scanlon said he's had service providers for developmental disabilities like the Arc "terrified about how this will shut down their programs and organizations unless we can give them more funding."

"These people do the most noble work in the state and serve the most vulnerable among us. They are already operating on a stretched budget, and they simply cannot absorb what this increase will do to their operating costs,” he said.

Minimum wage earners will very rapidly find themselves kicked off many of the programs they rely on: CHIP, FamilyCare, LIHEAP, SNAP, he said.

"These are the sort of negative unintended consequences that we haven’t fully accounted for. Leadership has all but admitted they haven’t fully considered these unintended consequences by setting up a panel to study them. Forging ahead blindly without knowing all of the ways this will impact the very people we are trying to help is irresponsible.”

Business survival

"Its not a question of operators making more money," Anthony Catanoso, president of Steel Pier, an amusement park in Atlantic City, told The Asbury Park Press. "In some cases it's operators surviving. There's just not enough of a margin. We struggle every year. This is just going to make it harder."

The amount of job loss that we are going to see among small businesses will be "tragic,” O’Scanlon said.

“New Jersey is basically famous for not wanting to pump our own gas. In fact, I’ve previously received phone calls making sure to let me know that ‘Jersey Girls Don’t Pump Gas’! Well, we better be prepared to start pumping our own gas soon because one of the industries that is bracing for massive losses is our fuel merchants," he said.

"Local gas station owners testified before us that they cannot sustain employees and keep their businesses open without bringing in self-serve gas.”

Competitive wages

Business owners told The Press that they still would need to pay a competitive wage to attract teens who could find higher-paid work at a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts.