The City of Newark followed Jersey City’s lead as it passed an ordinance mandating certain employers to provide paid sick leave to its employees. The Sick Leave for Private Employees ordinance requires all private Newark businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees who work at least 80 hours per year in Newark.
The City of Newark followed Jersey City’s lead as it passed an ordinance mandating certain employers to provide paid sick leave to its employees. The Sick Leave for Private Employees ordinance requires all private Newark businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees who work at least 80 hours per year in Newark.
Under the ordinance, employers with 10 or more employees are required to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave per year to their employees. Employers with fewer than 10 employees are required to provide at least 24 hours of paid sick leave per year. Employees who are child care workers, home health workers, and food service workers are permitted to accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, even if the employer has fewer than 10 employees.
Newark employees earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Employees begin accruing sick time upon their first day of employment, but employers are not required to provide sick leave until the employee has worked for 90 days.
The ordinance provides that employees may use paid sick time for their own or their family member’s illness. Employers have the option of determining whether paid sick time may be used in increments of less than one day. Employers are required to provide written, individual notice to their employees about their rights, and they also must display a poster containing notice of the ordinance.
The ordinance goes into effect on May 29, 2014. Please feel free to contact Connell Foley’s employment law attorneys for guidance on implementing Newark’s paid sick leave ordinance or any other leave issue you may be facing.
