NJ Bill Is ‘Huge Threat’ To $15 Minimum Wage Law, Group Says

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A pair of Democratic and Republican senators in New Jersey have sponsored a bill that some critics say will take a wrecking ball to the state’s recently passed $15 minimum wage law.

Next week, the New Jersey Senate Labor Committee is expected to take up S-3607, which is sponsored by Sen. Kristin Corrado, a Republican who represents the state's 40th district, and Sen. Vin Gopal, a Democratic Party member who represents the 11th district.

Read the full bill.

If it becomes law, the legislation would hit the pause button on scheduled increases to the minimum wage if:

• there’s a “seasonally adjusted” decrease in employment
• there’s a decrease in retail sales and use tax cash receipts
• total revenues received by the state in a fiscal year decrease by at least two percent from the previous fiscal year

After Governor Phil Murphy signed the state’s new minimum wage law earlier this year, New Jersey’s minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $15 an hour for most workers by 2024, beginning with a hike to $11 an hour in January 2020.

• See related article: Murphy Signs $15 Minimum Wage Bill Into Law (3 Problems Raised)

But if it’s passed, S-3607 would “all but guarantee” the suspension of New Jersey’s $15 minimum wage, according to Brandon McKoy, president of nonprofit New Jersey Policy Perspective.

McKoy said the proposed law poses a huge threat to low-paid workers in the Garden State.

“The bill uses broad and arbitrary metrics to pause increases in the minimum wage, cheating workers and families already struggling to make ends meet,” McKoy charged. “With income inequality at an all-time high, this bill moves New Jersey in the wrong direction and rolls back one of the most consequential, pro-worker policies in state history less than a year after it was signed into law.”

“Instead of concocting ways to further delay the economic security of New Jersey’s low-paid workers, lawmakers should focus on policies that boost wages and lift families out of poverty,” McKoy said.

Advocacy group New Jersey Citizen Action also blasted the bill in a statement on Thursday, writing that residents need to "take a stand" against the proposed law.

"Currently our employment levels are at an all-time high and a downturn in the near future is very likely," said New Jersey Citizen Action associate director Dena Mottola Jaborska.

"If New Jersey's economy takes a down turn based on several indicators — including if we see an increase in unemployment — the minimum wage increases would cease," Mottola Jaborska said. "This rollback legislation would hit our working families hard at a time when they need an increase in wages more than ever."

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• See related article: Climb To Nation's Highest Minimum Wage Begins At NJ, NY Airports
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‘THE PRICE OF PROGRESSIVE POLITICS’

Corrado, a Totowa resident and longtime attorney, has been a vocal critic of the $15 minimum wage law.

In February, she introduced a bill that would exempt municipal, school and county workers from the minimum wage increase, arguing that the $15 boost is “forcing local leaders to make impossible choices.”

“Our residents shouldn’t pay the price for progressive politics and we can’t keep asking taxpayers to foot the bill, either,” the senator insisted.

Corrado recently earned a Legislator of the Year Award from the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

Gopal, a “proud small business owner” who lives in Monmouth County, blasted Democratic Party leaders when the minimum wage law was agreed upon, calling it a “disastrous” deal that will result in the closure of countless mom and pop shops across the state.

“These are not large corporations that can absorb the blow,” Gopal said. “Forcing small business owners to drastically raise their minimum wage over this short period will result in layoffs and closures, which will ultimately hurt our local economy and will only empower bigger corporations.”

Gopal previously served on the board of directors for the then-Monmouth County Chamber of Commerce, and also served as president of the Hazlet Township Business Owners Association.

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