New Jersey Enacts Paid Sick Leave Act Effective October 29, 2018

Posted by on May 8, 2018 in Benefits

Written by: Susan L. Swatski

On May 2, 2018, New Jersey became the tenth state to enact a mandatory paid sick leave law. The law goes into effect on October 29, 2018 and will require all New Jersey employers, regardless of size, to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. The Act preempts and moots all municipal ordinances regarding paid sick time. Current employees will begin accruing sick time on October 29, 2018, so employers will need to have their revised leave policies in place in short order. Employees hired after October 29, 2018, will begin accruing sick time on their first day of employment. An employee can use accrued sick time after the 120th day of his/her first day of employment for the following reasons:

  • diagnosis, care or treatment of or recovery from an employee’s own mental or physical illness, including preventive medical care;
  • aid or care for a covered family member during diagnosis, care or treatment of or recovery from the family member’s mental or physical illness, including preventive medical care;
  • circumstances related to an employee’s or his/her family member’s status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence;
  • closure of an employee’s workplace or of a child’s school because of a public official’s order; or,
  • time to attend a meeting required by school staff to discuss a child’s health.

Employers may not require an employee to find a replacement to cover the employee’s absence. The payment amount is based on the same rate of pay that the employee earns at the time of the payment, not when the time was accrued.

Under the Act, employers must designate any period of 12 consecutive months as a “benefit year.”  In each benefit year, an employee may accrue up to 40 hours of sick time at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employer may “frontload” the 40 hours of sick time at the beginning of the benefit year, but employers are not required to permit employees to use more than 40 hours of sick leave in a benefit year. Employees are permitted to carry over a maximum of 40 hours of accrued sick time. Employers may, at their discretion, buy out an employee’s unused accrued sick time in the month before the end of the benefit year. An employee has the option to either have the entire amount of unused sick time paid out or 50 percent of the time. The Act does not require the employer to pay employees for unused accrued sick leave upon separation from employment. Employers with existing paid time off, personal days, vacation days and sick-day policies may use those policies to comply with the Act provided employees can use the time off as required by the Act.

Employers must post a notification of employees’ rights under the Act and provide employees with a written copy of the notice within 30 days after the Department of Labor has issued a model notice and each time thereafter when an employee is hired. Employers also must retain records documenting paid sick time taken by employees for a period of five years.

The Act provides for a private right of action that includes, among other remedies, liquidated damages in an amount equal to the actual damages sustained by the employee. The Act also contains anti-retaliation provisions that include a rebuttable presumption that an employer’s actions are unlawful if the employer takes adverse action against an employee within 90 days of the employee engaging in activity protected under the Act. Protected activities include filing a complaint with the Department of Labor, cooperating with an investigation, opposing policies and practices that are unlawful under the Act or informing other individuals of their rights under the Act.

Your business likely will be impacted by the Paid Sick Leave Act. You should start preparing now to ensure your sick leave, paid time off and vacation policies are compliant with the Act. You should also include training on the retaliation provisions of the Act for managers and supervisors.

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New Jersey Senate Fast Tracks Paid Sick Leave Bill

Posted by on Feb 24, 2016 in Benefits

Currently, there is no New Jersey state law requiring private sector employers to provide employees with paid or unpaid sick leave. However, the New Jersey State Senate has fast tracked legislation, Bill 799, to impose a mandatory sick leave requirement on private employers.  S-799 stipulates that all companies, regardless of size, would have to provide at least five, and as many as nine, sick days per year to all of their employees – even part-time workers.   More specifically, the Senate bill would require employers to grant workers an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.  Workers at businesses with fewer than 10 employees would be able to accrue up to 40 hours of sick time that could be carried over from one year to the next.  Employers with 10 or more workers would be required to allow them to accrue and carry over up to 72 hours of sick leave.

At least nine municipalities in New Jersey already require some form of mandatory sick leave. For example, private employers within the city limits of Jersey City with 10 or more employees are required to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year to eligible employees.

This debate in New Jersey is taking place amid a growing interest nationwide for paid sick leave, exemplified by an executive order issued by President Obama on Labor Day that requires federal contractors to provide employees with paid sick leave.

Employers should stay abreast of developments on this bill which, if passed, would require employers to rewrite their existing sick leave policies and perhaps rethink their vacation and other leave policies. Employers who operate in multiple states should also follow changes in local and state laws, as other jurisdictions and cities, Philadelphia, for example, have enacted paid sick leave laws which may affect out- of-state employers operating within their jurisdictional limits.  Hill Wallack employment law attorneys are available to help navigate paid sick leave laws and how they may affect clients in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT 101 FOR EMPLOYERS

Posted by on Sep 7, 2012 in Benefits

by Susan L. Swatski, Esquire (email / link to bio)

Now that the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) has been upheld by the Supreme Court, the time has come for employers to start figuring out what the new law means to your business. Keeping in mind that feature length articles and undoubtedly books are being written on this topic, my goal here is to provide you with some quick and easy guidance to set you on the path to compliance.

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Expanding Wage & Hour Protections Will Be a Hot Topic for the 112th Congress

Posted by on Nov 12, 2010 in Benefits

by Susan L. Swatski, Esquire (email / link to bio)

Wage and hour matters are prominent in employment law news these days as a result of the new Federal health care laws – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-148 and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-152 (collectively, the “Health Care Laws”). These laws not only will change the availability of health insurance, but also how health care is delivered in America, specifically with respect to direct-care staff.

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