What You Need to Know About NJ’s Mandatory Earned Sick Pay Leave

As of October 29, 2018, New Jersey adopted a mandatory earned sick pay law. This law applies to ALL employers and covers ALL employees. Every business owner must be aware of this law.

Employees will earn one sick-leave hour for every thirty hours they work, up to an annual maximum of 40 hours. Each employer must track this information, either internally or through their payroll company. This policy covers EVERY employee, whether they are full time, part time, hourly, salaried, or commission-based. It covers EVERY employer, of any size.

If a company already has a sick-leave policy in place, it may not be necessary to make any changes, unless certain employees are not covered by the internal policy.

The only employees NOT covered under this law are construction workers subject to a collective bargaining agreement, per-diem healthcare workers, and public employees who enjoy sick leave through another program (such as public school teachers).

The law is obviously much more detailed, but SGKLegal wanted to provide our clients and partners with basic information about this law as quickly as possible. Visit the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development for a detailed flyer which provides more information and required by employers to be prominently posted in the workplace.

Please contact SGKLegal if you have any questions about this law (or any other legal matter).