New Jersey Court Clarifies Application of 2019 Wage and Hour Law Amendments
On August 6, 2019, New Jersey’s wage and hour laws were amended to include liquidated damages on some claims, a new retaliation cause of action, and expansion of the statute of limitations from two to six years (the “2019 amendments”). Since then, litigants in New Jersey have struggled with the effect those amendments have had on their lawsuits. One of the main points of confusion centered around whether the 2019 amendments applied retroactively to violations prior to August 6, 2019, or whether the changes applied prospectively only. A significant conflict developed between federal and state courts on the retroactive application of the 2019 amendments. The New Jersey Supreme Court recently clarified this issue in Maia v. IEW Construction Group . In Maia, the plaintiffs represented a purported class of workers seeking to recover lost wages for pre-shift and post-shift work performed. One of the plaintiffs began working for the defendant in April 2019, and as of ...