An Act establishing a training wage and amending P.L.1966, c.113.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 5 of P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a4) is amended to read as follows:

5. 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 federal 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 or, if an applicable wage order has been issued by the commissioner under section 17 (C.34:11-56a16) of this act, not less than the wages prescribed in said order. The wage rates fixed in this section shall not be applicable to part-time employees primarily engaged in the care and tending of children in the home of the employer, to persons under the age of 18 not possessing a special vocational school graduate permit issued pursuant to section 15 of P.L.1940, c.153 (C.34:2-21.15), or to persons employed as salesmen of motor vehicles, or to persons employed as outside salesmen as such terms shall be defined and delimited in regulations adopted by the commissioner, or to persons employed in a volunteer capacity and receiving only incidental benefits at a county or other agricultural fair by a nonprofit or religious corporation or a nonprofit or religious association which conducts or participates in that fair.

The provisions of this section for the payment to an employee of not less than 1 1/2 times such employee's regular hourly rate for each hour of working time in excess of 40 hours in any week shall not apply to employees engaged to labor on a farm or employed in a hotel or to an employee of a common carrier of passengers by motor bus or to a limousine driver who is an employee of an employer engaged in the business of operating limousines or to employees engaged in labor relative to the raising or care of livestock.

Employees engaged on a piece-rate or regular hourly rate basis to labor on a farm shall be paid for each day worked not less than the minimum hourly wage rate multiplied by the total number of hours worked.

Full-time students may be employed by the college or university at which they are enrolled at not less than 85% of the effective minimum wage rate.

Commencing July 1, 2009, a training wage of not less than 85% of the effective minimum wage rate may be paid to an employee above the age of 15 years old and under the age of 21 years old who is enrolled in an established employer on-the-job or other training program which meets standards set by regulations adopted by the commissioner. The period during which an employer may pay the training wage to the employee shall not exceed 90 days, and no employee may work for more than two employers paying the training wage rate during any one-year period. No employer shall utilize any employee paid the training wage in a manner which causes, induces, encourages or assists any displacement or partial displacement of any currently employed worker, including any previous recipient of the training wage, by reducing hours of a currently employed worker, replacing a current or laid off employee with a trainee, or by relocating operations resulting in a loss of employment at a previous workplace, or in a manner which replaces, supplants, competes with or duplicates any approved apprenticeship program. An employer who pays an employee a training wage shall make a good faith effort to continue to employ the employee after the period of the training wage expires and shall not hire an employee at the training wage unless there is a reasonable expectation that there will be regular employment, paying at or above the effective minimum wage, for the trainee upon the successful completion of the period of the training wage. If the commissioner determines that an employer has made repeated, knowing violations of the provisions of this section regarding the payment of a training wage, the commissioner may suspend the employer's right to pay a training wage for a period set pursuant to regulations adopted by the commissioner, but not more than three years.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, every trucking industry employer shall pay to all drivers, helpers, loaders and mechanics for whom the Secretary of Transportation may prescribe maximum hours of work for the safe operation of vehicles, pursuant to section 31502(b) of the federal Motor Carrier Act, 49 U.S.C.s.31502(b), an overtime rate not less than 1 1/2 times the minimum wage required pursuant to this section and N.J.A.C. 12:56-3.1. Employees engaged in the trucking industry shall be paid no less than the minimum wage rate as provided in this section and N.J.A.C. 12:56-3.1. As used in this section, "trucking industry employer" means any business or establishment primarily operating for the purpose of conveying property from one place to another by road or highway, including the storage and warehousing of goods and property. Such an employer shall also be subject to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to the federal Motor Carrier Act, 49 U.S.C.s.31501 et seq., whose employees are exempt under section 213(b)(1) of the federal "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 29 U.S.C. s.213(b)(1), which provides an exemption to employees regulated by section 207 of the federal "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938," 29 U.S.C.s.207, and the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C.s.501 et al.

The provisions of this section shall not be construed as prohibiting any political subdivision of the State from adopting an ordinance, resolution, regulation or rule, or entering into any agreement, establishing any standard for vendors, contractors and subcontractors of the subdivision regarding wage rates or overtime compensation which is higher than the standards provided for in this section, and no provision of any other State or federal law establishing a minimum standard regarding wages or other terms and conditions of employment shall be construed as preventing a political subdivision of the State from adopting an ordinance, resolution, regulation or rule, or entering into any agreement, establishing a standard for vendors, contractors and subcontractors of the subdivision which is higher than the State or federal law or which otherwise provides greater protections or rights to employees of the vendors, contractors and subcontractors of the subdivision, unless the State or federal law expressly prohibits the subdivision from adopting the ordinance, resolution, regulation or rule, or entering into the agreement.

(cf: P.L.2005, c.70, s.1)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes a training wage of 85% of the effective minimum wage. Employers would be permitted to pay the training wage to an employee over the age of 15 and under the age of 21 who is enrolled in an established employer on-the-job or other training program. No employer would be permitted to pay the training wage to an employee for longer than 90 days or utilize employees paid the training wage in a manner which causes, induces, encourages or assists any displacement or partial displacement of currently employed workers, including previous recipients of the training wage, by means such as reduced hours of currently employed workers, replacement of current employees or laid off employees by trainees; or a relocation of operations resulting in a loss of employment at a previous workplace, or in a manner which replaces, supplants, competes with or duplicates any approved apprenticeship program. An employee is permitted to work for no more than two employers paying the training wage during any one year period. The bill requires an employer who pays an employee a training wage to make a good faith effort to continue to employ the employee after the period of the training wage expires and not to hire an employee at the training wage unless there is a reasonable expectation that there will be regular employment, paying at or above the effective minimum wage, for the trainee upon the successful completion of the period of the training wage. If the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development determines that an employer has made repeated, knowing violations of the requirements of the bill regarding the payment of a training wage, the commissioner may suspend the employer's right to pay a training wage for a period set pursuant to regulations adopted by the commissioner, but not longer than three years.