Beginning this month, East Orange, Irvington, Passaic and Paterson will join Newark and Jersey City in requiring employers to provide their workforce with paid sick leave. Montclair and Trenton will begin requiring covered employers to provide paid sick leave in March. The ordinances governing sick pay in these municipalities largely mirror Newark’s law that went into effect last year.
The ordinances governing sick leave are nearly identical. Eligible employees include those who work for at least 80 hours per year for an employer of 10 or more employees. Covered employers are required to provide employees with 40 hours of paid sick leave each calendar year. If an employer has fewer than 10 employees, it is required to provide 24 hours of paid sick time each calendar year. Employers of child care, home health care and food service workers, however, are required to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave even if such employers have less than 10 employees. Government employees, employees of New Jersey schools and members of construction unions are not covered by the various ordinances.
In determining the number of employees for coverage, full time, part-time and temporary employees must be counted. Paid sick time is accrued one hour of sick time for every 30 hours actually worked, and employees can begin to use the paid sick time once they reach 90 days of employment. Unused paid sick leave that is not otherwise paid out to employees can be carried over to the following calendar year, but employees may only use 40 hours of paid sick time per year. Also, employees are not entitled to reimbursement of unused paid sick time upon the termination of employment.