New York City is not the only municipality instituting mandatory paid sick leave. Newark, New Jersey recently passed a similar ordinance, joining the growing list of city governments requiring employers to provide paid sick leave for eligible employees.
Newark’s ordinance applies to all employees, who work eighty hours or more per year. The program requires employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours an employee works. The program allows business to cap the total number of paid sick time it allots to individuals at either twenty-four or forty hours a year. Generally, businesses with ten or more employees must allot up to forty hours annually. Those employing nine or fewer workers may cap the allotment at twenty-four hours.
The ordinance takes effect May 29, 2014. Newark employers must provide employees with a copy of the ordinance and conspicuously post an additional copy in the workplace. Employers may request advance notice when employee leave is foreseeable. Employers may also request that employees confirm in writing that leave was taken for one of the approved reasons. Approved reasons include personal physical or mental health, family illness, and closure of the employee’s workplace.
The list of cities requiring paid sick leave now includes Jersey City, Milwaukee, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Additionally, Connecticut and Rhode Island have implemented state wide paid sick leave laws.