With the new year upon us, there are a number of legal changes and developments in New Jersey and New York that employers and organizations should be aware of as these changes may require updates to workplace policies and practices.
New Jersey Wage Transparency
New Jersey has finally joined the ranks of other states, such as New York, California, Illinois, and others by enacting a wage transparency law ( S. 2310) with respect to promotional opportunities as well as employment listings for new jobs and transfers. The law applies to New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks that do business, employ workers, or take applications for employment in New Jersey.
Effective June 1, 2025, the law will require employers to make reasonable efforts to announce, post, or otherwise make known opportunities for promotion that are advertised internally within the employer or externally on internet-based advertisements, postings, printed flyers, or other similar advertisements to all current employees in the affected department or departments of the employer’s business prior to making a promotion decision. A “promotion” is defined as “a change in job title and an increase in compensation.” Exceptions exist for promotions for current employees that are based on years of experience or performance and promotions made on an emergent basis due to unforeseen circumstances.
Further, beginning June 1, 2025, employers will be required to disclose the hourly wage or salary, or a range, and a general description of benefits and other compensation that the employee would be eligible for in postings for new jobs and transfer opportunities that are advertised externally or internally. Employers may increase the amount of the identified wage, benefit and compensation at the time an offer of employment is made. Employers who fail to comply with these requirements will face a penalty up to $300 for the first violation, and $600 for each subsequent violation.
New Jersey Treatment of Remote Workers
Organizations in New Jersey that have employees who work remotely should be aware that the New Jersey Attorney General and Division of Civil Rights issued Enforcement Guidance on May 14, 2024, that interprets protections under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”) to broadly extend to remote workers, even if they work remotely in another state. Therefore, any employee working for a New Jersey employer is afforded protections under the NJLAD to be free from discrimination and bias-based harassment, regardless of their physical work location, or residency.
Employers should be sure to clarify and explain the coverage of the NJLAD to their employees; as well as to educate supervisors, managers, and those with authority on the broad reach of the NJLAD.
Stricter Civil Penalties for Violations Regarding New Jersey Immigrant Workers
New Jersey employers should be aware that the state has enacted a new law expanding protections for immigrant workers. The law, S. 2869, authorizes the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development (“Commissioner”) to assess and collect stricter civil penalties for employers who disclose or threaten to disclose an employee’s immigration status for the purpose of concealing their own violation of state wage, benefit or tax laws, in addition to existing penalties for the underlying employment violations.
When determining the amount of the administrative penalty to impose, factors that the Commissioner may consider include: the history of previous violations by the employer; the seriousness of the violation; the good faith of the employer; and the size of the employer’s business.
New Jersey Releases Guidance on New Jersey Workers Who Are Pregnant, Postpartum or Lactating
On December 24, 2024, the New Jersey Attorney General issued Enforcement Guidance seeking to clarify accommodation and protections available under the NJLAD as expanded by the New Jersey Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“NJPWFA”), for employees who are pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, or lactating or who experience related medical conditions. The guidance covers various topics such as the various types of reasonable accommodations which may be needed, whether and when medical documentation may be requested, evaluating the undue hardship providing an accommodation may cause for an employer’s business operations, the interactive process, an employer’s obligation to respond properly to accommodation requests, prohibitions on an employer from penalizing or retaliating against employees who are pregnant or lactating because they ask for or use a reasonable accommodation, equal treatment of an employee who is pregnant, postpartum, or lactating, remedies and relief for those who violate the NJLAD, as well as an employer’s obligation to comply with federal laws, including the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) and the federal Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”). For more information regarding protections for pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, and lactating employees see the DCR Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Reproductive Rights in New Jersey website.
New York State Freelance Workers
Both New York state and New York City have enacted laws that enhance protections to freelance workers retained as independent contractors.
Effective August 8, 2024, the New York State “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” (“FIFA”), N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 44-A, is aimed at providing protections to freelance workers across New York state. A “freelance worker” is defined by FIFA as “a person hired or retained as an independent contractor by a hiring party to provide services in exchange for an amount equal to or greater than $800, either by itself or when aggregated with all contracts for services between the same hiring party and freelance worker during the immediately preceding 120 days.”
Protections for freelance workers include but are not limited to:
- The establishment of a written contract between the freelance worker and hiring party with specific requirements including: the name and mailing address of both parties; an itemization of all services the freelance worker will provide, the value of the services to be provided, and the rate and method of compensation; the date on which payment by the hiring party is due or the mechanism by which the due date for payment will be determined; and the date by which the freelance worker must provide a list of services under the contract to ensure timely payment.
- Timely payment by the hiring party to the freelance worker by a specified date or within 30 days of the completion of the freelance worker’s services.
- A prohibition on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Further, a hiring party must not threaten, intimidate, discipline, harass, deny a work opportunity to, or discriminate against a freelance worker who exercises or attempts to exercise their rights under FIFA.
Employers who violate FIFA may be subject to remedies, damages, and penalties.
Similarly, the New York City law, Local Law 140 of 2016 (“NYC law”), enacted in May 2017, specifically provides freelance workers within New York City with the right to have a written contract, timely and full payments, and protection from retaliation. Requirements under this law are largely the same as under FIFA. New York City employers must comply with the NYC law as well as the more stringent New York state law.
New York Paid Prenatal Personal Leave Law
The paid prenatal personal leave law, effective January 1, 2025, requires New York employers to provide employees with up to 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave during any 52-week calendar period. Such leave may be used for pregnancy-related health care such as physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to pregnancy. This is in addition to paid sick and safe leave and paid family leave already provided under New York law. Further, the new law requires employers to compensate employees using prenatal leave at their regular rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher. However, an employer does not need to pay out unused leave upon such employee’s termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation. The law also contains anti-retaliation protections and requires that a covered employer restore an employee who is returning from paid prenatal leave to their job with the same pay and other terms and conditions of employment.
New York Paid Lactation Break Time
Effective June 19, 2025, New York employers are required to provide paid lactation break time for up to 30 minutes each time an employee needs to express breast milk for their nursing child for up to three years following the child’s birth. Employees must also be permitted to use existing paid break or mealtime for time in excess of 30 minutes.
In light of these new requirements, employers should review and revise their employee handbooks and policies, as well as train supervisors, managers, and human resources personnel to handle such requests.
New York Clean Slate Act
Under New York State’s Clean Slate Act, the Unified Court System has up to three years from the law’s effective date (until November 16, 2027) to set up the required processes to automatically seal eligible conviction records. Once that work is complete, convictions that are eligible will be sealed for certain civil background check purposes.
The Clean Slate Act automatically seals misdemeanor records three years from the individual’s release from prison or from the imposition of sentence if there was no incarceration and certain felony criminal records eight years after release from prison or from the imposition of sentence if there was no incarceration.
Certain categories of serious offenses are exempt such as Class A felonies, sex offenses, and sexual violence offenses. The law is limited to criminal records under New York State Law and does not apply to federal offenses or records of convictions in other states.
Employers are prohibited from inquiring about automatically sealed convictions or making any adverse decision concerning an individual’s employment based on automatically sealed convictions. However, employers but may be allowed to access and consider sealed convictions in making employment decisions when required by state or federal law to conduct a fingerprint-based background check or where authorized to conduct a fingerprint-based background check because the applicant would be working with children, the elderly, or vulnerable adults.
New York Equal Rights Amendment
On Election Day 2024, New York voters approved Proposition 1, the Equal Rights Amendment which adds discrimination protections into the state constitution.
Specifically, effective January 1, 2025, the New York State Constitution will include protections against discrimination “by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency” based on “race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
The New York State Constitution already included discrimination protections for race, color, creed and religion.
These protections mirror protections found in the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”). Proposition 1 also provides protections for laws and programs aiming to “prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of a characteristic.” It further states that one protected characteristic may not be used as a basis for discriminating, or denying a person’s rights based on another protected characteristic.
New York City Workers’ Bill of Rights
New York City employers should be aware that effective July 1, 2024, pursuant to New York City’s “Workers’ Bill of Rights” law (Local Law Int. 2023/161) enacted in December 2023, employers are required to post in a conspicuous location in the workplace and provide a copy to employees upon hiring, a multilingual Workers’ Bill of Rights as promulgated by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (“DCWP”) containing information on the rights and protections under federal, state, and local laws that apply to all employees, prospective employees or independent contractors in New York City, regardless of immigration status. Employers who operate online or through a mobile application are also required to post the Workers’ Bill of Rights online or on such mobile application.
After an initial violation of the law, employers who fail to follow the notice and posting requirements will be subject to a $500 civil penalty. Upon receiving notice from the Commissioner of the DCWP, employers have 30 days to correct any violations.
This summary is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice. This information should not be reused without permission.
