
This new law will hurt NJ business owners (Opinion)
Several new laws were passed in New Jersey this year that purport to protect employees from unscrupulous employers and unfair wages. But remember, there’s always a flipside to “taking care of the employee.” Usually, those laws punish the employer or owner of a business. Among the new laws passed this year in NJ that make it more difficult to run a business include changes to the New Jersey Family Leave Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination not to mention the horribly misguided increase in the minimum wage that Governor Murphy is so proud of.
These measures all sound great if you work FOR someone. But what if you own a business and you’re finding it hard to survive? The New Jersey wage theft act was passed into law with little fanfare back in August. It contains some of the most stringent anti-business tenets in the country. Theoretically, the law was designed to punish employers who don’t pay their employees. On its face, it sounds like a good idea. But looking deeper into it, it’ll put even more of a stranglehold on New Jersey business owners than ever. The law imposes criminal penalties, including jail time, for employers who violate wage laws. An article in njmovers.com really delves into the intricacies of this new law, breaking it apart piece by piece.
As if New Jersey doesn’t already treat business owners like criminals, now they’ll be all over you, making sure that even an unskilled pimple-faced teenager is getting his $15 an hour lining up boxes of cereal, or you can go to jail. It’s absurd. According to the article, even errors will only be barely tolerated. For example, even in the case of an INADVERTENT underpayment, an employer will have to admit guilt and pay up within 30 days. After that, if any “infractions” occur, he’s basically screwed.
And it’s not just about wages. This law is also going to treat every New Jersey business person like a potential criminal by monitoring (and of course mandating) their provision of health benefits, pensions, medical treatment, disability benefits and worker’s compensation.
Not only that, the article goes on to explain that according to the law, employees will now have the statute of limitations expanded giving them six years to file claims against employers. Is there any question that New Jersey is becoming a socialist state, determined to smother independence and create a worker-only environment?
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