The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development recently eliminated its definition of exempt employees for overtime purposes, and adopted in its place the federal standard.

The new rule is NJAC 12:56-7.2, and it can be found here.  The new rule grew out of the Christie administration's initiative to cut red tape and duplicative regulation. 

The practical effect of the new regulation --- in addition to simplifying compliance for employers --- should be to increase the number of workers who are exempt from the overtime regulations, and thus reduce to some extent employers' obligations for overtime pay.  It is not clear, however, how much employers will benefit since it is difficult to know how many employees who were non-exempt under NJ law will have their status changed by the new definition.

Note, also, that the new regulation does not adopt the federal standard for governmental workers.