Within the past few weeks, three New Jersey towns – Passaic,
Paterson and East
Orange – passed paid sick leave ordinances.
Under these laws, private employers are required to provide paid sick
leave to their employees who work a minimum number of hours per year within the
city.
Under all three ordinances, employers with 10 or more
employees are required to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year
to their employees. Employers with fewer
than 10 employees are required to provide at least 24 hours of paid sick leave
per year. The ordinances have a special
exception for employees who are child care workers, home health workers and
food service workers, as they are permitted to accrue up to 40 hours of paid
sick leave per year, even if the employer has fewer than 10 employees.
Passaic, Paterson and East Orange employees earn one hour
of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. The ordinances permit employees to use paid
sick time to care for themselves, their spouse or civil union partner,
children, siblings, parents, grandparents and grandchildren. Employers are required to provide written notice
to their employees of their rights under the law, and they must post
information about the ordinance at their place of business.
All of these paid sick leave ordinances go into effect in
January 2015. Currently, there is state
legislation pending that would mandate paid sick leave for all employees within
New Jersey. The bill is still being
contemplated by the legislature. Please
contact Connell Foley’s labor and employment law attorneys for guidance on addressing
these new paid sick leave ordinances.