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New Jersey Governor to Sign Paid Sick Leave Bill Into Law Today


Today, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is set to sign into law a paid sick leave bill after the New Jersey Assembly approved the measure by a 50 - 24 vote in March and the New Jersey Senate approved the measure with a 24 - 12 vote in mid April.  The bill, the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act, requires employers in the state to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees.  Employees will be able to earn one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked.  The Act provides a host of reasons for why an employee can use the paid sick leave, including for diagnosis, care, treatment, or recovery for a mental or physical condition; diagnosis, care, treatment, or recovery for a mental or physical condition of a family member; and time to attend a school related conference or meeting; among a few other permissible reasons.  Note, the Act apparently does not exempt smaller employers from the obligation to provide paid sick leave.

The Act does preempt municipal paid sick leave ordinances already in place in cities and towns across the state.  There are a few minor exemptions provided, as the Act does not apply to per diem healthcare employees, construction workers that are employed pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, nor public employees that already have sick leave benefits.  It is interesting to note that employees of temporary service firms are expressly included and are able to accrue paid sick leave benefits on the basis of total time worked with the temporary service firm (not for each separate client that the employee performed worked for).

Once Governor Murphy signs the bill into law, it will go into effect 180 days after signature.  Employers beware, a private cause of action is provided for violation of the Act and allows employees to recover liquidated damages as one available remedy.


For additional information on the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act:  https://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/new-jersey-legislature-passes-paid-sick-leave-bill

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