CLIENT ALERT

CSG Law Alert: Updates in New York and New Jersey Employment Laws for 2025

The new year brings some significant updates for employers in New York and New Jersey with respect to employment laws, including changes to worker protections, workplace diversity, wage transparency, and more. Highlighted below are several important changes to the law in each state, as well as the dates those changes will become effective.

NEW YORK

November 2024

CLEAN SLATE LAW 

New York’s Clean Slate Law took effect on November 16, 2024, and limits employers’ access to a job applicant’s criminal history. The law requires the sealing of certain New York state convictions after a designated period of time (misdemeanor convictions are sealed three years after the defendant is released from incarceration and felony convictions are sealed eight years after release from incarceration), provided the individual has maintained a clean record and is no longer on probation or parole.

Under the new law, once the records are sealed, employers are prohibited from making any inquiry regarding the convictions or making any adverse decision concerning an individual’s employment based on the convictions. However, employers are permitted to access and consider sealed convictions in making employment decisions when required by state or federal law to request and receive a fingerprint-based check of criminal history information related to the individual’s fitness to have responsibility for the safety of children, the elderly, or disabled or vulnerable adults.

Importantly, as part of New York’s Clean Slate Law, New York Executive Law 845-D was amended to require employers conducting criminal background checks to: (1) provide or ensure the provision of a copy of the background check to the individual; (2) provide or ensure the provision of a copy of New York Correction Law Article 23-A to the individual; and (3) inform the individual of their right to seek correction of any incorrect information contained in the background check results.

January 2025

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES

New York will see notable adjustments to its minimum wage law and employers should review employee compensation to ensure that new minimum wage increases are in place. Effective January 1, 2025, New York’s minimum wage increased throughout the state as follows:

New York City, Long Island, and Westchester

Remainder of New York State

These increases align with the state’s ongoing effort to support low-wage workers amid rising costs of living. There is also a possibility of future annual increases based on inflation.

EXEMPT EMPLOYEES SALARY THRESHOLD INCREASE

When the New York State minimum wage increases, the state’s minimum salary required for executive and administrative employees increases proportionately. Accordingly, effective January 1, 2025, the minimum salary threshold for the executive and administrative exemptions from overtime pay requirements increased to $1,237.50 per week, or $64,350 annually in New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties and to $1,161.65 per week, or $60,405.80 annually for the rest of New York State. On January 1, 2026, the threshold will again increase to $1,275 per week, or $66,300 annually in New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties and $1,199.10 per week, or $62,353.20 annually for the rest of New York State.

Notably, New York’s minimum salary thresholds for the administrative and executive overtime exemptions are separate and higher than those established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

PAID FAMILY LEAVE

In recent years, the New York Paid Family Leave (“PFL”) program expanded the definition of “family member” to include siblings and domestic partners and additionally, effective January 1, 2025, the cap on New York PFL benefits will increase. Employees may receive benefits in the amount of 67% of their average weekly wage, up to 67% of the current New York State Average Weekly Wage (“NYSAWW”) which will increase from $1,718.15 (in 2024) to $1,757.19 which means that the maximum weekly benefit will increase from $1,151.16 (in 2024) to $1,177.32.

PAID PRENATAL LEAVE

Effective January 1, 2025, New York became the first state to offer paid time off for prenatal care. New York employers are now required to provide up to 20 hours of paid leave.  Under the law, employees can take leave for “health care services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to pregnancy.”  Paid prenatal leave includes end of pregnancy care and fertility treatment and is a separate obligation from sick leave, which is already required by state and local law.

These benefits are available immediately upon hire, which means that employees do not need to work a minimum number of hours or accrue the leave. The leave is measured in 52-week periods, can be taken in hourly increments, and is paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay. However, the paid leave is available only to the pregnant person and may not be used to accompany a pregnant person to an appointment. Like other types of sick leave, paid prenatal leave does not need to be paid out upon an employee’s separation.

The New York Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) recently shared guidance to help employers navigate the law. The NYDOL has made clear that, if an employee requires more than 20 hours of leave or requests an alternative accommodation, employers have obligations under other laws, such as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

EXPANDED PROTECTED CATEGORIES

Effective January 1, 2025, pursuant to the Equal Rights Amendment (Proposition 1), the New York State Constitution’s protections against discrimination have expanded. Prior to the amendment, the Constitution only protected against discrimination based on race, color, creed, and religion. The amendment added ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy as protected categories. While the state’s existing anti-discrimination laws, such as the New York State Human Rights Law and state labor laws, already afford protection against discrimination based on these categories, the amendment affirms the state’s commitment to preventing discrimination.

March 2025

RETAIL WORKER SAFETY ACT

Effective March 4, 2025, the Retail Worker Safety Act will impose requirements on stores that sell consumer commodities at retail (excluding those primarily engaged in the sale of food for consumption on the premises) with 10 or more employees, with the aim of ensuring safer working environments for retail workers. Such employers will be required to: (1) adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and will be able to establish their own policy or use a model policy to be published by the NYDOL; and (2) provide violence prevention training to their employees.  There are additional requirements to be imposed on employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide that will take effect January 1, 2027, including providing access to panic buttons in the workplace.

June 2025

FASHION WORKERS ACT 

Effective June 2025, the Fashion Workers Act will impose requirements on model management companies geared to protect the models they represent, including but not limited to, providing the models with client and financial information, including copies of written contracts, ensuring that any employment or engagement procured through the model management company does not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the model, including through communicating a zero tolerance policy for abuse and harassment, and specifying all items that may be initially paid for by the model management company and deducted from the compensation due to the model.

July 2025

COVID-19 SICK LEAVE

As of July 31, 2025, the COVID-19 quarantine leave legislation that was enacted in March 2020 will expire. The law currently guarantees job protection and either unpaid or paid leave to workers who are subject to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation for COVID-19, based on the size of the employer.

NEW JERSEY

January 2025

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES

New Jersey will see notable adjustments to its minimum wage law and employers should review employee compensation to ensure that new minimum wage increases are in place. Effective January 1, 2025, the minimum wage increased as follows:

The state also allows for potential future increases tied to the Consumer Price Index, which means wages could continue to adjust based on the economic climate.

PAID LEAVE BENEFITS (FAMILY LEAVE, UNEMPLOYMENT, DISABILITY, AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION)

New Jersey offers Family Leave Insurance, which provides wage replacement for employees who need to take time off for the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a seriously ill family member. The maximum benefit rates and the taxable wage base are recalculated each year based on the statewide average weekly wage in the second preceding calendar year. Effective January 1, 2025, the maximum weekly benefit rate increased from $1,055 to $1,081.

Additionally, the maximum weekly benefit rate for Unemployment Insurance claims increased from $854 to $875 and the maximum weekly Workers’ Compensation benefit rate for temporary disability, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability and dependency increased from $1,131 to $1,159.

EMPLOYEE PRIVACY RIGHTS AND SURVEILLANCE 

As technology advances, so do concerns about employee privacy in the workplace. New Jersey is taking action to address these issues. Effective January 15, 2025, the New Jersey Data Protection Act will expand employee privacy protections by requiring employers to disclose the types of monitoring they use and ensure that data collection is limited to necessary business purposes. Employers will also need to establish a clear policy that outlines how data is collected, stored, and used.

June 2025

PAY TRANSPARENCY

2025 marks an important milestone for pay transparency in New Jersey, which joins New York in helping to close gender and racial pay gaps by providing greater salary transparency.

As of June 1, 2025, under the Wage Transparency Act, New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees (over 20 calendar weeks), including job placement and referral agencies and other employment agencies, are required to disclose: (1) the hourly wage or salary, or a range of the hourly wage or salary; and (2) a general description of benefits and other compensation programs for which the applicant or employee would be eligible for each advertised posting (internally or externally) for a new job or transfer opportunity.

Additionally, employers must make “reasonable efforts to announce, post, or otherwise make known opportunities for promotion that are advertised” (internally or externally) to all current employees in the affected department prior to making a promotion decision.

CONCLUSION

The employment landscape in New York and New Jersey in 2025 will be shaped by progressive changes aimed at improving workers’ rights, promoting pay transparency, expanding leave options, and ensuring fair treatment for all employees. As both states continue to set trends in labor law, employers should stay vigilant about complying with these evolving regulations to foster a fair and transparent work environment.

If you have any questions regarding these updates, please contact your CSG Law attorney or the authors of this alert.

Courtney M. Gaccione

Ashley Whitney