What's New? NJ Minimum Wage Increase

The currrent minimum wage rate in New Jersey is $15.49 per hour, effective January 1, 2025 (previously $15.13 in 2024 and $14.13 in 2023). Read more about NJ Human Resources in The Gold Book. 

What's New? NJ Pay Transparency Law

New Jersey will follow in the footsteps of states such as Connecticut, which began the requirement for pay transparency in 2021, and New York, which started the requirement earlier this year after New York City began requiring it in 2022. Read about NJ Pay Transparency in Human Resources section of The Gold Book under Rules for Laws Regulating Wages and Hours.

What's New? NJ Minimum Wage Increase

New Jersey's statewide minimum wage will increase by $1 to $15.13 per hour for most employees on Jan. 1, 2024. Read more in The Gold Book. 

NJ Mortgage Assistance

This week, the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) opened the application portal for the Emergency Rescue Mortgage Assistance program (ERMA).

To help protect homeowners from foreclosure, this program will provide assistance to cover mortgage arrearages, delinquent property taxes, and other housing costs for eligible homeowners negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. If eligible, you could receive up to $35,000 in the form of a three-year forgivable loan, with no interest or payments due.

NJHMFA will also provide free housing counseling services to help New Jersey homeowners apply for this program, guide them through all available options, and even work with their loan servicers to achieve the best outcome available for their families. These counselors will also ensure that the process is accessible to those without access to internet or anyone needing assistance with the application.

Visit NJHMFA to learn more and access the application.

Regulatory Relief Following Hurricane Ida (NY & NJ)

The FDIC has announced a series of steps intended to provide regulatory relief to financial institutions and facilitate recovery in areas of New Jersey and New York affected by remnants of Hurricane Ida.

• The FDIC is encouraging banks to work constructively with borrowers experiencing difficulties beyond their control because of damage caused by Hurricane Ida.
• Banks that extend repayment terms, restructure existing loans, or ease terms for new loans in a manner consistent with sound banking practices can contribute to the health of the local community and serve the long-term interests of the lending institution.
• Banks may receive favorable Community Reinvestment Act consideration for community development loans, investments, and services in support of disaster recovery.
• The FDIC also will consider regulatory relief from certain filing and publishing requirements.

A copy of the Guidance can be found on the FDIC’s website.

NYS Minimum Wage to Increase

The minimum wage in New York State is still set to increase on New Year's Eve. The Department of Labor announced the minimum wage will rise to $12.50 an hour in areas of New York outside of the New York City area. The decision came despite calls from some lawmakers to delay the increase due to financial burdens on struggling businesses.

More about minimum wages can be found in The Gold Book.

New York Minimum Wage

New Jersey Minimum Wage

What's New? COVID-19 Mortgage Relief

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), along with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (collectively, the agencies), recognize the potential for Coronavirus Disease (also referred to as COVID-19) to adversely affect the customers and operations of financial institutions. The agencies encourage financial institutions to work with affected customers and communities, particularly those that are low- and moderate-income. The agencies recognize that such efforts—when consistent with safe and sound banking practices and applicable laws, including consumer protection laws—serve the long-term interests of these communities and the financial system.

See more in The Gold Book in the Community Reinvestment Act section and the Mortgage Servicing Rules section.

Also: New York Rules and New Jersey Rules.

What's New? Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), into ‎law.  FFRCA will help the United States combat and defeat COVID-19 by giving all American businesses with fewer than 500 employees funds to provide employees with paid leave either for the employee's own health needs or to care for family members. The legislation will enable employers to keep their workers on their payrolls, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus. The FFCRA includes two major overhauls to leave programs for employers:

• an amendment to ‎the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), adding new Public Health Emergency Leave, and
• the ‎enactment of Emergency Paid Sick Leave for reasons related to the Coronavirus.

Both ‎programs go into effect on April 2, 2020, and run through December 31, 2020.

The following updates may be found in The Gold Book:

Federal Laws Regulating Wages and Hours: Families First Coronaviurs Response Act (FFCRA)

New York State COVIC-19 Leave Laws

New Jersey Earned Sick for Earned Sick Leave and COVID-19 Benefits and Protections

What's New? NJ Family Leave Act Updated

New Jersey recently added dramatic expansions to the New Jersey Family Leave Act and New Jersey Family Leave insurance. Click here to read about the New Jersey Family Leave Act in the Human Resources chapter of The Gold Book.

What's New? NJ Estate Tax Repeal

On October 14 Governor Christie signed into law a repeal of the New Jersey estate tax. More specifically, as of January 1, 2017 the $675,000 exemption amount will be increased to $2 million, and as of January 1, 2018 the estate tax will be repealed altogether. 

See The Gold Book for more information on Estate and Inheritance Tax Waivers.

What's New? Adult Guardianship in Other States

New York and New Jersey recently joined over thirty other states in their adoption of a Uniform Adult Guardianship Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act. Passing of these acts is to create uniform procedures for guardianships and protective proceedings and to prevent or minimize interstate jurisdictional disputes in adult guardianship cases. Read more about New York's Act and New Jersey's Act in The Gold Book. 

NJ passes bill to encourage banks to locate in underserved areas

A bill intended to encourage banks to locate in underserved communities received final legislative approval last week. If signed into law by Gov. Christie, the legislation would allow the creation of special districts in communities with few or no financial institutions.

Banks that locate in those districts would be eligible to hold State Treasury funds, and municipalities could choose such banks to hold their municipal deposits. Both steps would help to boost profitability and thereby serve as an incentive to locate in the districts.

"In many urban areas, residents are relegated to using check-cashing stores for their banking needs and forced to pay service fees that are disproportionately higher than those at established financial institutions," said Sen. Donald Norcross (D., Camden), a sponsor of the bill. "By providing incentives for banks to open in underserved communities, we will help provide fairer access to the banking services that residents depend on and prevent people from having to pay unnecessary and burdensome costs for basic financial transactions."

Modeled on a program in New York, the New Jersey legislation was created after the sudden closure of a Bank of America branch in Jersey City that left many residents without access to a local bank.