What is it? According to the Wage & Hour Act of New Jersey, the employment of an employee in any occupation in this State at an oppressive and unreasonable wage is hereby declared to be contrary to public policy and any contract, agreement or understanding for or in relation to such employment shall be void.

Every employer shall pay to each of his employees wages at a rate of not less than $5.05 per hour as of April 1, 1992 and, after January 1, 1999 the minimum hourly wage rate set by section 6(a)(1) of the federal “Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938” (29 U.S.C. s.206(a)(1)), and, as of October 1, 2005, $6.15 per hour, and as of October 1, 2006, $7.15 per hour for 40 hours of working time in any week and 1 1/2 times such employee's regular hourly wage for each hour of working time in excess of 40 hours in any week, except this overtime rate shall not include any individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity, farm industry, non-profit, and religious entities, trucking, and college students employed at a University. Furthermore, there is no legal entitlement to an employee for over time or additional pay for working Saturdays, Sundays, holidays or regular days of rest. And, in New Jersey, there is no law requiring that an employee be given a lunch break or intermittent breaks. All of the above, or course, can be changed if the employer has an employment policy/manual which does afford the employee heightened benefits, or if there is an employment contract stating otherwise.