Opinion ID: 3011011
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Provision

Text: The statutory provision that permits a good-faith defense to a violation of the overtime statute provides as follows: [N]o employer shall be subject to any liability or punishment for or on account of . . . the failure of the employer to pay minimum wages or overtime compensation under this act, if he pleads and proves that the act or omission complained of was in good faith in conformity with and in reliance on any written administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval or 20 interpretation by the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry or the Director of the Wage and Hour Bureau, or any administrative practice or enforcement policy of such department or bureau with respect to the class of employers to which he belonged. Such a defense, if established, shall be a complete bar to the action or proceeding, notwithstanding, that after such act or omission, such administrative regulation, [etc.] . . . is modified or rescinded or is determined by judicial authority to be invalid or of no legal effect. N.J. Stat. Ann. S 34:11-56a25.2 (1988). The case law on New Jersey's good-faith defense is sparse. The one case relied on by the District Court, a Law Division case, appeared to ignore the requirement that good faith be based on a written regulation, order, etc., and found that the defendant's reliance on unrelated statutes and industry practice constituted good faith. See State v. Frech Funeral Home, 448 A.2d 1037, 1041-43 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. 1982).9