MINIMUM WAGE, OVERTIME ATTORNEYS FIGHTING FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

Handling cases involving wage & hour laws throughout NY and NJ, we represent employees that have been paid less than what the law requires

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The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S. Code § 206 – 2016)(FLSA), the New York Labor Law (Article 19, NYLL § 650 et al.)(NYLL) and the New Jersey Wage and Hour Laws (N.J.S.A. §§ 34:11-56 et al.) provide that “[e]very employer shall pay to each of his employees” a Minimum Wage. In addition, these statutes provide that any employee that works in excess of 40 hours in a given work week must be paid compensation that is not less than one-half times their regular earnings as Overtime Pay (OT). As such, if you are not paid the minimum wage (as explained below) or are not paid Overtime Pay when you work in excess of 40 hours in a given week, you should immediately contact the Akin Law Group.

 

MINIMUM WAGE IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY

In 2018 the minimum wage rate in New Jersey was $8.60 per hour. Effective January 1, 2019 the New Jersey minimum wage rate increased to $8.85 per hour. Effective of January 1, 2020 the rate increased to $11.00 per hour. Effective January 1, 2022 the rate increased to $13.00 per hour and effective January 1, 2023 New Jersey rate increased to $14.13 per hour.  As of January 1, 2024 New Jersey increase the rate again to $15.13 per hour. 

For Agricultural employees, the rate increased by 80 cent, the minimum wage going from $12.01 to $12.81 per hour.


New York is a bit more complicated depending on the County of employment.

The state minimum wage has increased to $16.00 per hour effective January 1, 2024 for New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.  For the rest of New York State, the minimum wage is now $15.00 per hour. Recent amendments to the Labor Law provide further increases by $0.50 per year on January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2026. 


If you worked for any employer in New York or New Jersey employer during this time period and were not paid the minimum rate as indicated above, you have a right to recover. The statute of limitations for New York and New Jersey is 6 years. In other words, you can make a claim for being paid less than the minimum wage going back 6 years (back to 2015). 


The wage and hour laws in New York and New Jersey are complicated and require an attorney that is well versed in this field of practice. Not only do employees not really understand what they are supposed to be paid, most employers are also confused.  

If you believe you are or were paid less than the minimum wage or are denied overtime pay in New York or New Jersey for the past 6 years, our attorneys at the Akin Law Group are here to assist you.  Call for your FREE consultation (absolutely no fee charged for consultation).  

 

OVERTIME IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY

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Both, New York and New Jersey require that all employees (with few exception) be paid overtime wage, which is an amount that is 1.5 X the regular rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a given week.  By way of an example, an employee in New York that is paid $16.00 per hour must be paid $24.00 per hour for any time they work in excess of 40 hours in the given week. As such, an employee that works 50 hours in a given week must be paid $640.00 (40 x $16.00) in regular pay and $225.00 (10 x $24.00) in Over-Time pay for a total of $880.00. In New Jersey, the same employee making the minimum wage of $15.00 per hour that works 50 hours in a given week must be paid no less than $600.00 (40 x $15.00) in regular pay and $225.00 (10 x $22.50) in Over-Time pay for a total of $825.00.  If you are working overtime (more than 40 hours per week) in New York or New Jersey and you are not paid the minimum wage or the overtime pay for which you are entitled, the Akin Law Group is here to help you collect all the amounts that you are owed.

 

SPREAD OF HOURS PAY IN NEW YORK

Although New York Labor Law is a statute similar to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New Jersey Labor Law, New York has an additional requirement known as the “spread of hours” provision which allows an employee to recover an extra hour’s worth of pay at the minimum wage for each day that an employee works in excess of 10 hours. For example, an employee earning $16.00 per hour that reports to work from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and is required to take a break from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, only to continue working from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm has only worked 10 hours, but has worked those 10 hours in a spread of 11 hour time frame. As such, this employee must be paid an additional amount of $16.00 for that day.  If you work more than 10 hours in any given day and you are not paid an extra hours pay, contact the Akin Law Group.

 

MEAL BREAKS IN NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY

Under New York labor laws, every person employed shall be allowed at least thirty (30) minutes for the noonday meal. The noonday (12:00 p.m.) meal period is recognized as extending from eleven o’clock in the morning (11:00 a.m.) to two o’clock in the afternoon (2:00 p.m.). An employee who works a shift of more than six (6) hours which extends over the noonday (12:00 p.m.) meal period is entitled to at least thirty (30) minutes off within that period for the meal period.

Every person employed for a period or shift starting before eleven o’clock in the morning (11:00 a.m.) and continuing later than seven o’clock in the evening (7:00 p.m.) shall be allowed an additional meal period of at least twenty (20) minutes between five o’clock in the evening (5:00 p.m.) and seven o’clock in the evening (7:00 p.m.).

In New Jersey, employers are required to provide employees under the age of eighteen (18) years of age with a thirty (30) minute break after five (5) consecutive hours of work. NJSA 34:2-21.17d(g)(4). New Jersey does not require employers to provide breaks, including lunch breaks, for workers eighteen (18) years of age or older.

 

EARNED SICK LEAVE IN NEW YORK and NEW JERSEY

Both in New York and New Jersey, all employees must be provided with 40.00 hours of paid sick leave per year, which accrues at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employees that have worked 1,200 hours have already accrued all 5 days (40 hours) of sick leave to which they are entitled. An employer may not accrue the sick leave on a monthly or weekly basis.  To avoid confusions, many employers will simply allow employees to use all of their sick leave as of the beginning of the year.

In New York City all employees that work in excess of 80 hours per year, are entitled to sick leave.  Lastly, in NYC employers may not require employees to bring a doctors note unless the employee is taking off on three consecutive days for sick leave.

 

ATTORNEYS FEES, LIQUIDATED DAMAGES, COST AND INTEREST

Federal and State Laws mandate attorney’s fees, Liquidated Damages, Costs and Interest to be paid to an employee that prevails in a wage and hour claim. 29 U.S. Code § 216 (i.e. Section 216 of the FLSA) provides, in relevant part, that the Court shall allow a prevailing employee to recover his reasonable attorney’s fees, as well as the costs of the action.  In that vein, courts across the country have held that an employee who “prevails” in an FLSA action shall receive his or her “full wages plus the penalty without incurring any expense for legal fees or costs. Bringing a claim for minimum wage or overtime violations will not cost the employee any amount since the attorney’s fees, costs and disbursements will be paid by the employer. As such, an employee should have no concerns about not being able to afford an attorney or pay for litigation when the matter involves wage violations.

In New York, N.Y. Lab. Law §§ 198(1-a) mandates that “In any action instituted in the courts upon a wage claim by an employee or the commissioner in which the employee prevails, the court shall allow such employee to recover the full amount of any underpayment, all reasonable attorney’s fees, prejudgment interest as required under the civil practice law and rules, and, unless the employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its underpayment of wages was in compliance with the law, an additional amount as liquidated damages equal to one hundred percent of the total amount of the wages found to be due.”.

Employees/workers who sue for Minimum Wage, Spread of Hours or Over-Time violations can recover the gap between their actual pay and the amount they were supposed to be paid for the hours worked, as well as an equivalent amount in Liquidated Damages.  Liquidated Damages can be up to 100% which means for every $100 in pay that you are owed, you will recover a total of $200.


In New Jersey, the New Jersey Wage Theft Act (WTA) imposes one of the toughest wage theft statute in the country.  The WTA requires employers to provide employees a written statement of wage rights, as mandated by NJDOL. The WTA expressly prohibit retaliation against employees who complain about their employers’ alleged violations of the Wage Laws.  WTA also allows employees to recover attorneys’ fees and liquidated damages of up to 200% of the actual wages recovered, in addition to the recovered wages. In other words, New Jersey effectively tripled employers’ potential wage liability for violations of the NJWPL.


In addition to liquidated damages, you may also be entitled to Prejudgment Interest, which is an amount that is awarded to an employee to compensate the employee for the loss of use of the wage that they should have received from the time the employer should have paid it to the employee to the time that payment is actually made.

We are on your side. You and your family deserve better.  If you, or anyone you know has been paid less than the Minimum Wage or was denied Over-Time pay despite working in excess of 40 weeks, wasn’t paid the Spread of Hours differential for working in excess of 10 hours, or has not been provided the necessary pay-stub, pay notice, or have any other question about your employment, contact one of Akin & Salaman attorneys immediately by calling 212-825-1400 or emailing us at [email protected] to schedule your FREE and Confidential consultation.