NEW JERSEY MANDATORY PAID SICK LEAVE LAW:
What is the Law…..How the law works and what you need to know!
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that would guarantee people who work in New Jersey the ability to take an occasional sick day without losing any pay.
New Jersey became the 10th state in the nation to enact paid sick leave legislation.
As a result of the recent legislation, beginning October 29, 2018, if you are a covered employer, you’ll be required to provide a sick leave to your New Jersey employees. This includes temporary service firms.
All local leave laws within the state are preempted by state law, however, covered employees shall continue to accrue sick leave under these laws until October 29, 2018.
NEW JERSEY MANDATORY PAID SICK LEAVE LAW:
What is the Law…..How the law works and what you need to know!
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that would guarantee people who work in New Jersey the ability to take an occasional sick day without losing any pay.
New Jersey became the 10th state in the nation to enact paid sick leave legislation.
The law went into effect on October 29, 2018 the essence of which is:
If you are a covered employer, you’ll be required to provide a sick leave to your New Jersey employees. This includes temporary service firms.
Employees then begin to accrue leave starting on October 29, 2018. The accrual rate is one hour per 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours in one year. Employees will be eligible to use the accrued leave 120 days later. For employees hired after the effective date of the law, benefits will begin to accrue immediately and they will be eligible to use the leave after 120 days. However, employers may agree to an earlier date.
Covered employers must have a sick leave policy under which an eligible employee earns at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee works. You can provide these hours two different ways:
Under what circumstances may employees take a sick day?
Employees may use earned sick days for:
- Their own health needs or that of a family member, defined in the law as a “child, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, civil union partner, parent, or grandparent or any other individual related by blood to the employee or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship”;
- Issues resulting from an employee (or family member of employee) being a victim of domestic or sexual violence, including medical attention necessary for physical or physical or psychological injury; obtaining services from a designated domestic violence agency or other victim services organization; relocation; or legal services, including participation in any related legal proceeding;
- Closure of the employee’s workplace, school, or childcare due to a public health emergency;
- A child’s school-related conference, meeting, function, or other event.
Do they have to show a doctor’s note?
Employers may require “reasonable documentation” for absences of three or more days. Documentation depends on the type of absence and is spelled out in the law.
Is every worker entitled to sick pay?
There are a few categories of workers not covered by the law. It does not include employees in a collective bargaining agreement in the construction industry, per diem health care workers, or public employees provided sick leave pursuant to any other law, rule, or regulation in New Jersey.
If an employee does not use their sick time one year, does it carry over into the next year?
The new law provides that employee sick leave does not accumulate beyond 40 hours in any one-year period. The law provides that you may carry forward unused time from one year to the next as long as your accrued time does not exceed 40 hours. The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which has oversight and responsibility for implementation and enforcement of the new law, will develop regulations that spell out how this will be implemented and enforced.
What happens if you the employer does not comply?
There are strong provisions in the law to address employer non-compliance. The process by which an employee can use these provisions to report non-compliance will be outlined in the forthcoming regulations.
Sick leave hours can be provided in two different ways:
- 1. Frontloading – you may choose to provide the full amount of earned sick leave that an employee would earn over the course of the year, at the beginning of each benefit year. If you select to use this method, you must either provide the employee a payment for the full amount of unused sick leave in the final month of the benefit year or carry forward any unused sick leave to the following benefit year. Employers are not required to allow an employee to carry over more than 40 hours of earned sick leave.
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- Accrual – employees accrue paid sick leave as it is earned.
If an employee is rehired within 6 months after leaving employment, reinstatement of any unused sick leave that had accrued at the time of separation (unless it was already voluntarily paid out) is required.
- Accrual – employees accrue paid sick leave as it is earned.
NOTICE REQUIREMENT: – Employers must provide employees with a written copy of their rights under the law in a form issued by the commissioner. This notice must be provided to each employee
- No later than 30 days after the form of notification is issued
- At the time of the employee’s hiring, if the employee is hired after the issuance
- Any time requested by the employee
- Notice must be in English, Spanish or any other language necessary to convey the message
Each covered employer must also post the notification in a noticeable place, accessible to all employees in each of the employer’s workplaces.
Click on the following links for more information: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/pages/new-jersey-paid-sick-leave-law.aspx OR https://www.njbia.org/new-statewide-paid-sick-leave-law/
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