How New Jersey OJT Reimbursement Actually Works for Employers

50% of the new hire's salary for 4 to 26 weeks while you train an unemployed jobseeker.

50% of salary, capped at $10,000 per contract and $200,000 per employer per fiscal year. No hourly wage cap.

The employer, as wage reimbursement. You pay the trainee as usual and submit trainee evaluations and payroll records.

• New hire is a New Jersey resident who is unemployed or facing imminent layoff, on UI or exhausted UI in the past 52 weeks, or a dislocated worker
• Full-time (at least 32 hours a week), long-term job paying above the state minimum wage (the NJDOL flyer says at least $1 over)
• Not a rehire and not related to you; you must be a W-2 employer
• Open job posting with NJDOL, and a training plan for a real skills gap beyond ordinary onboarding

Reimbursement of part of a WIOA-eligible new hire's wages while you train them.

Typically up to 50% of wages. State policy says no more than $10,000 per participant over six months. Boards may go up to 75% or past six months only in limited, documented cases, with a waiver from NJDOL.

The employer, by reimbursement under a contract with the county workforce board.

• Trainee is a One-Stop customer eligible for WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker or Youth services, with an employment plan
• You are current on UI and disability taxes, have a W-9 on file, and owe under $750 in open tax liability
• You must interview candidates the board refers
• No pattern of dropping past OJT trainees; no layoffs to open the job; no displacing current workers

Four weeks of paid work from an eligible jobseeker age 55 or older, so you can observe and train them before hiring. Private non-profit employers only.

Salary covered for four weeks.

A federal grant covers the participant's salary; you receive no payment, only four weeks of trial labor.

• Private non-profit employer
• Participant is 55 or older, income eligible and unemployed