On May 2, 2018, New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy signed into law New Jersey’s Paid Sick Leave Act. This new Act requires employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick time to covered employees each year (excluding most construction employees under a collective bargaining agreement and public employees who already have paid sick leave). New Jersey is now the tenth state to enact such legislation.
In 2008 New Jersey enacted the Family Leave Act. That law required employers to provide for up to six weeks of benefits to care for sick family members or newborn babies. However, it does not cover the employee’s own individual sick time and only applied to employers with fifty or more employees.
In 2013, the State enacted the Security and Financial Empowerment (“SAFE”) Act which required employers to permit twenty days of unpaid leave without taking disciplinary action if the employee was a victim of domestic violence.