PAID SICK LEAVE ACT
NEW JERSEY
PAID SICK LEAVE ACT
O
n May 2, 2018, New Jersey
Governor Phil Murphy
signed into law the New
Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act,
which took effect on October
29, 2018. The Act applies to nearly all
employers and employees and guarantees
that almost every person employed in New
Jersey will accrue paid sick leave.
Here are some the basics of this new law:
AFFECTED EMPLOYERS AND
EMPLOYEES
The Act applies to any person or entity
having employees in the State of New
Jersey, regardless of the employer’s size.
The terms “employer” and “employee” are
defined broadly to include all employers
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and employees, with limited exceptions.
SICK LEAVE ACCRUAL
Employers have two options:
•
•
the accrual method, under which
employees earn sick leave at a rate of
one hour per every 30 hours worked;
or,
the annual method (aka frontload),
where the employee receives the entire
40 hours of sick leave on the first day
of each benefit year.
Under either method, employers are under
no obligation to allow an employee to
accrue, use, or carry forward more than
40 hours of earned sick leave. At the end
of a benefit year, an employee may carry
forward their earned sick time or have it
purchased by the employer.
Employers should note that the provisions
governing the employer’s payment (or buy
back) of employee earned sick time versus
an employee’s carryover of sick time from
one benefit year to the next are confusing
and depend on which method (accrual
versus frontload) the employer chooses to
implement for its employees.
NOTICES, DOCUMENTATION AND
RECORDKEEPING
Employers may require that employees
provide up to seven days advance notice
of the need to use earned sick leave,
where reasonably foreseeable. Employers
may prohibit employees from exercising