On May 2, 2018, the New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act was signed into law. The effective date of this act is October 29, 2018. This law requires all New Jersey employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year to covered employees. The act excludes employees working under a union contract and some per diem healthcare employees.
Under the act, active employees begin accruing sick time on the effective date of the act while new employees begin accruing sick time on the first date of their employment. There is a 120 day probationary period before time accrued becomes available for usage. Employers may choose any period of 12 consecutive months as a "benefit year". In each benefit year, an employee will accrue up to 40 hours of sick time at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employer may choose to "front-load" the full 40 hours at the start of the year. Employees will be allowed to carry over a maximum of 40 hours of unused accrued time per year. Employers with existing paid time off policies that provide at least these benefits may continue to use those policies to satisfy the requirements of this law.
As the effective date of this new law is quickly approaching, we recommend that you review your paid time off policies and determine if changes are needed. Should you require ADS to implement the new NJ Sick Leave act for your company, or if you are looking to modify an existing accrual in order to meet the new NJ Sick Leave guidelines, please submit the Custom Services Request Form ASAP and select “Benefit Accruals” from the drop-down menu. A representative will contact you to discuss further details.
All existing municipal laws in New Jersey regarding paid sick time will be null upon the effective date of this act. If you have accruals set up for the municipal laws, please notify your ADS representative. Clients may use the existing bank balances to provide beginning balance data to be imported into the new NJ Sick banks.
As part of this new law, applicable employers are required to post and provide new employees on their first day of employment with a notice of their rights under the sick law. All current employees must be given the notice no later than November 28, 2018. Be on the lookout for the notice that the State of New Jersey will publish for this purpose.
Click here for the actual text of this law.
If you have any questions pertaining to the new law, please consult with your compliance adviser.