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Sherri A. Affrunti

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The New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act takes effect today, October 29, 2018. Just in time for flu season.

If you are a New Jersey employer or an employer with employees in New Jersey, regardless of size or employee number, you are now required by law to provide one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked – up to 40 hours in a benefit year – to all employees (including part-time and seasonal) with the minor exceptions of: (i) per diem health care employees, (ii) construction workers employed under a collective bargaining agreement (who will later begin to accrue sick leave under the law on the date the agreement expires), and (iii) public employees previously entitled to sick leave benefits under state law.

Sick leave under the law begins to accrue on the law’s effective date (October 29th), or upon an employee’s later date of hire, and may begin to be used 120 days after an employee’s start of employment (or upon such earlier date that an employer permits).  Leave granted under the law may be advanced in whole, or be subject to accrual.

The state law preempts the various municipal laws previously in effect.  Employers who provide paid time off (PTO) banks are compliant with the Act provided the PTO may be used for the purposes and in the manner set forth under the state law and is accrued at a rate equal to or greater than the rate provided by the law.

An employer may choose the increments in which an employee may use earned sick leave, provided that the largest increment required does not exceed the number of hours an employee is scheduled to work for that shift (including any overtime). Acceptable reasons for using paid sick leave include: (i) for preventative care or the diagnosis, care, treatment or recovery of an employee’s own mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, or that of their family member; (ii) treatment, counseling or preparation for legal proceedings necessary following domestic or sexual violence to an employee or their family member; (iii) an employee’s need to attend school-related conferences, meetings or events regarding their child’s education, or to attend a school-related meeting concerning their child’s health; or (iv) an employee’s time off upon the employer’s closing, or the closing of their child’s school or child care provider, due to a public health emergency.
Continue Reading New Jersey Employers: The State Paid Sick Leave Law Is Now In Effect – Are You Ready?

The United States District Court of New Jersey recently dismissed an employee’s disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation claims, holding that neither the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) nor the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA) required the employer to waive its drug testing requirements.

In Cotto v. Ardagh Glass Packing…

On May 2, 2016, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for the second time, issued a conditional veto of proposed legislation that would bar gender-based pay discrimination, saying in part that the Bill would go too far beyond federal standards and make New Jersey “very business unfriendly.”

In an effort to address and remediate gender-pay gaps in the state, the New Jersey Senate introduced and passed Senate Bill No. 992 (the “Bill”) in February 2016. The Bill comprised similar terms presented in two separate Senate bills back in 2012, one of which Gov. Christie issued a conditional veto of in March 2012, explaining at the time that his opposition sprang from the bill’s failure to include an explicit statutory limitation on back-pay recoveries for employees. Other provisions of the current Bill that would have required government contractors to report employee gender and compensation information to the New Jersey Department of Labor were also vetoed by Gov. Christie in 2012, who commented back then that the unique gender and pay-data reporting requirements would impose costly burdens on the state’s employers.
Continue Reading Gov. Christie Vetoes Proposed Equal Pay Act Again as ‘Business Unfriendly’

In a case of first impression in New Jersey, the Appellate Division cautioned that employers may only require an employee to undergo a mental health fitness-for-duty examination in limited circumstances.  Relying heavily on the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance, the Court held that such examinations are only permitted when an employer “has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that: (1) an employee’s ability to perform essential job functions will be impaired by a medical condition; or (2) an employee will pose a direct threat due to a medical condition.”  In the Matter of Paul Williams, Township of Lakewood, 443 N.J. Super. 532, 120 A.3d 593 (Jan. 25, 2016) (emphasis added).

Case Background

Paul Williams (“Williams”) was a truck driver with the Lakewood Township Public Works Department for nine years when, in March 2013, the Township received an anonymous letter allegedly from a co-worker claiming that several employees who worked with Williams were concerned for their safety.  The letter also baldly alleged that “everyone knows [Williams] has some sort of mental issues” that put all of his co-workers “at risk.”  While citing general statistics of workplace violence and describing Williams as a “time bomb waiting to explode,” the only description of any alleged workplace misconduct contained in the letter was an undetailed assertion of “tirades and outbursts” – some of which were purportedly directed towards the union shop stewards.Continue Reading Objective Basis Needed for Psychological Fitness for Duty Exam

The New Jersey Senate has again approved a bill, S-799, that requires New Jersey employers to provide paid sick leave to workers in the state for:

(a) the diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery from, an employee’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or for preventative medical care for the employee

(b) care for a family member during diagnosis, care or treatment of, or recovery from, the family member’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or preventative medical care for the family member

(c) obtaining medical attention, counselling, relocation, legal or other services due to circumstances resulting from an employee or family member being a victim of domestic or sexual violence

The bill, identical to the bill which cleared the Senate last year but never made its way to the Governor’s desk, requires businesses to grant workers one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked – capping mandatory accrual at 72 hours for “large” businesses of 10 or more employees and 40 hours for “small” businesses of less than 10 employees. Additional details of the bill are summarized in our December blog post.
Continue Reading Paid Sick Leave Bill Clears New Jersey Senate Again

This post was also written by Matthew Y. Kane.

A recent district court case should remind companies of the importance of setting forth clear social media guidelines with their employees, which, among other things, make clear that webpages – such as Facebook brand pages – are owned by the company. In the case, the plaintiff,…

New Jersey employers are reminded that, beginning January 6, 2014, they are required to conspicuously post a copy of the State’s new Gender Equity Notice (the “Notice”) in the workplace, distribute the Notice to current employees, and thereafter provide written copies of the Notice at the time of hire, annually to all employees, and otherwise upon request. Signed acknowledgements of the Notice must be obtained, in writing or by electronic verification, from each employee within 30 days of each distribution. (See further specific details of the requirements, bulleted below). The Notice, now available from the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development in both English and Spanish, can be found by clicking here.
Continue Reading New Jersey’s Gender Equity Notice: Posting & Distribution Requirements Go Into Effect January 6, 2014

The NJ DOL has published the new mandatory notice that, by December 7, 2011, must be posted in a conspicuous location and distributed to all existing employees who work in New Jersey. In addition, ALL new employees hired in New Jersey on November 7, 2011 or after must be immediately provided with a copy of…

Responding in part to a 2007 study which found that New York employees were largely unfamiliar with State laws regulating an employer’s use of past convictions for employment-related decisions and in support of the State’s goal to prevent discrimination on the basis of criminal records, the New York Legislature recently amended the State’s general business and labor laws to require employers to disseminate and post notice to job applicants and employees of their rights with respect to, and an employer’s limitations on the use of, information on criminal convictions. The posting and notice requirements take effect on February 1, 2009.

Background

Section 296 of the New York Executive Law makes it unlawful for an employer to deny employment to an individual based upon his or her having been convicted previously of a crime, or by reason of a finding of lack of “good moral character” due to his or her prior conviction of a criminal offense, when such a denial is a violation of New York’s Correction Law Article 23-A (Licensure and Employment of Persons Previously Convicted of One or More Criminal Offenses). N.Y. Executive Law § 296.

Under Article 23-A, employers of 10 or more employees are expressly proscribed from making adverse hiring or termination decisions based upon an individual’s conviction record unless: (1) there is a direct relationship between the prior criminal offense(s) and the specific employment position sought or held by the individual; or (2) hiring or continuing to employ the individual would involve an unreasonable risk to property or the safety or welfare of specific individuals or the general public. Before determining that an individual’s criminal conviction record bars employment or continued employment, Article 23-A requires that those employers carefully consider each of the following factors:

  • New York’s public policy encouraging the employment of previous convicts;
  • The specific duties and responsibilities of the employment position sought or held by the individual;
  • The bearing, if any, the criminal offense(s) for which the person was previously convicted will have on that individual’s fitness or ability to perform one or more job duties or responsibilities;
  • The time that has elapsed since the occurrence of the criminal offense(s);
  • The age of the applicant or employee at the time of the conviction;
  • The seriousness of the offense(s);
  • Any information produced by the person or on his or her behalf, regarding rehabilitation and good conduct; and
  • The employer’s legitimate interest in protecting its property as well as the safety and welfare of its employees and clients as well as the general public.

Notably, an employer must also give consideration to any certificate of relief from disabilities or certificate of good conduct issued to an individual, which certificate, by law, creates a rebuttable presumption of rehabilitation regarding the offenses to which it relates.

N.Y. Correction Law § 750, et seq.Continue Reading New Legislation Modifying New York Law Governing Use of Criminal Background Checks in Employment Taking Effect; Posting Date February 1, 2009

Provided that the bill is signed into law by Governor Corzine, New Jersey employees will be entitled effective July 1, 2009 to collect up to six weeks of paid family temporary disability leave benefits during any 12-month period (42 days for “intermittent leave”) when caring for children, spouses, domestic or civil union partners, or parents…