New Jersey Employment Law

New Jersey recently passed a Paid Sick Leave Law set to take effect on October 29, 2018. (details given in special leave section below). Prior to the October 29, 2018, fringe benefits such as vacation pay, sick leave pay and holiday pay was not required by New Jersey State law. If employer do provide these benefits they must be administered uniformly in accordance with the established policy or employment agreement. An individual may have a basis for a claim if an employer fails to adhere to the policy or agreement.

Effective January 1, 2023, the minimum wage in New Jersey is $14.13. An additional $1.00 per hour will be added on  January 1 of each consecutive year until $15.00 per hour in 2024.

The above information on minimum wages might not be up to date & subject to change. Kindly access the DOL website for the current rates.

Under the New Jersey Family Leave Act,  employees are entitled to take leave without losing their jobs. The New Jersey Family Leave Act permits leave to be taken for:

• • • The care of a newly born or adopted child, as long as leave begins within one year of the date the child is born to or placed with the employee; or
    • The care of a parent, a child under 18, spouse, or civil union partner who has a serious health condition requiring inpatient care, continuing medical treatment or medical supervision.

The Family Leave Act considers parents to be: in-laws, step-parents, foster parents, adoptive parents or others having a parent-child relationship with an employee. Each eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks of continuous leave during a given 24-month period. When caring for a family member with a serious health condition, an employee may take leave that is not continuous, for example, intermittent leave or a reduced work schedule. Sometimes an employer’s approval is necessary for this type of arrangement if the leave is taken in connection with the birth or adoption of a child.

Covered Employer includes employers with at least 30 employees or each calendar day of 20 or more calendar workweeks.

• • • The definition of “parent” includes foster parents and those who became parents via a gestational carrier. Likewise, the definition of “family leave” is now expanded to include care for foster children and children who are born via a gestational carrier.
    • The definition of “family member” includes siblings, grandparents and grandchildren, parents-in-law, domestic partners, any individuals related to the employee by blood, and more broadly, “any other individual that the employee shows to have a close association with the employee which is the equivalent of a family relationship.”
    • Employees are eligible to take leave under the New Jersey Security and Financial Empowerment Act (“NJ SAFE Act”) to care for any of the aforementioned individuals in the event of domestic violence or sexually violent incidents. Employees are entitled to a reduced leave schedule for up to 12 consecutive months for any one period of leave, as opposed to 24 consecutive weeks.

Two Programs make up a paid family and medical leave, the NJ Family Leave Insurance & Temporary Disability Insurance Family Leave Insurance (FLI). FLI provides employees with 12 continuous weeks (over a 12-month period) or 56 intermittent days of paid leave. Paid leave is available for employees to take time off work to bond with a new child (birth, foster, or adopted), care for a seriously ill loved one, and deal with issues related to domestic or sexual violence. Any employee working in New Jersey that meets one of the two following requirements: Worked at least 20 weeks during the 52 weeks leading up to the claim, making at least $220 per week, or; Earned at least $11,000 during the 52 weeks leading up to the claim.

Whereas Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) is paid leave for one’s own non-work-related injury, illness, or other disability, including pregnancy and recovery from delivery.

Amendment to NJFLA

New Jersey amended its state Family Leave Act (“NJFLA”) to cover certain leaves of absence related to communicable diseases such as COVID-19 where a state of emergency is declared. The amended NJFLA adds the following as qualifying events for job-protected leave.

In the event of a state of emergency declared by the Governor, or when indicated to be needed by the Commissioner of Health or other public health authority, an epidemic of a communicable disease, a known or suspected exposure to the communicable disease, or efforts to prevent the spread of a communicable disease, which:

• • • Requires in-home care or treatment of a child due to the closure of the school or place of care of the child of the employee, by order of a public official due to the epidemic or other public health emergency; or
    • Prompts the issuance by a public health authority of a determination, including by mandatory quarantine, requiring or imposing responsive or prophylactic measures as a result of illness caused by an epidemic of a communicable disease or known or suspected exposure to the communicable disease because the presence in the community of a family member in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others; or
    • Results in the recommendation of a health care provider or public health authority, that a family member in need of care by the employee voluntarily undergo self-quarantine as a result of suspected exposure to a communicable disease because the presence in the community of that family member in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others.

Importantly, the amended NJFLA does not provide leave for the employee’s own exposure to a communicable disease, and the leave remains unpaid – although an employee may qualify for a paid leave benefit under New Jersey’s Family Leave Insurance Program.

The amended NJFLA provides a process for leave to be taken intermittently. Specifically, the leave may be taken intermittently if: (i) the employee provides the employer with prior notice of the leave as soon as practicable; and (ii) the employee makes a reasonable effort to schedule the leave so as not to unduly disrupt the operations of the employer and, if possible, provide the employer, prior to the commencement of the intermittent leave, with a regular schedule of the day or days of the week on which the intermittent leave will be taken.

Effective October 29, 2018, each employer shall provide earned sick leave to each employee working for the employer in the State. For every 30 hours worked, the employee shall accrue 1 hour of earned sick leave, except that an employer may provide an employee with the full complement of earned sick leave for a benefit year, as required, on the first day of each benefit year. An employer shall be in compliance with this section if the employer offers paid time off, which is fully paid and shall include, but is not limited to personal days, vacation days, and sick days, and may be used for the purposes stated in the act in the manner provided by this act, and is accrued at a rate equal to or greater than the rate.

Upon the mutual consent of the employee and employer, an employee may voluntarily choose to work additional hours or shifts during the same or following pay period, in lieu of hours or shifts missed, but shall not be required to work additional hours or shifts or use accrued earned sick leave. An employer may not require, as a condition of an employee’s using earned sick leave, that the employee search for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours during which the employee is using earned sick leave.

An employer shall permit an employee to use the earned sick leave accrued pursuant to this act for any of the following:

• • • • • time needed for diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery from, an employee’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or for preventive medical care for the employee; or
        • time needed for the employee to aid or care for a family member of the employee during diagnosis, care, or treatment of, or recovery from, the family member’s mental or physical illness, injury or other adverse health condition, or during preventive medical care for the family member; or
        • absence necessary due to circumstances resulting from the employee, or a family member of the employee, being a victim of domestic or sexual violence, if the leave is to allow the employee to obtain for the employee or the family member: medical attention needed to recover from physical or psychological injury or disability caused by domestic or sexual violence; services from a designated domestic violence agency or other victim services organization; psychological or other counseling; relocation; or legal services, including obtaining a restraining order or preparing for, or participating in, any civil or criminal legal proceeding related to the domestic or sexual violence; or
        • time during which the employee is not able to work because of a closure of the employee’s workplace, or the school or place of care of a child of the employee, by order of a public official due to an epidemic or other public health emergencies, or because of the issuance by a public health authority of a determination that the presence in the community of the employee, or a member of the employee’s family in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others; or
        • time needed by the employee in connection with a child of the employee to attend a school-related conference, meeting, function or other event requested or required by a school administrator, teacher, or other professional staff member responsible for the child’s education, or to attend a meeting regarding care provided to the child in connection with the child’s health conditions or disability.

Effective January 1st, 2018, employers can’t provide paid or unpaid leave to female employees affected by pregnancy in ways that are less favorable than leave provided to other employees who have a similar ability or inability to work. Pregnancy means pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or expressing milk for breastfeeding, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, recovery from childbirth, or breastfeeding.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”), 38 U.S.C. 4301, et seq., applies to all employers, regardless of size, including foreign employers doing business in the U.S. USERRA requires all employers to grant a leave of absence for up to 5 years to any person who is absent from a job because of uniformed service. USERRA applies to leaves of absence for all categories of military duty except ‘State Active Duty,’ or Governor ‘call-ups,’ which are protected under N.J.S.A. 38:23C-20a. USERRA only requires a leave of absence; pay for military members is discretionary with each public and private entity.

Any person employed full-time by any agency, independent authority, instrumentality or entity of the State or of any political subdivision of the State shall be excused from employment at all times the person is required to be present for jury service in any court of this State, any court of another state, or any federal district court or in the United States District Court for New Jersey, and shall be entitled to receive from the employer the persons usual compensation for each day the person is present for jury service in lieu of any payment for juror service.

An employer may not terminate, dismiss or suspend any employee who is absent from work due to service in his or her volunteer capacity as a volunteer emergency responder. Volunteer emergency responders include an active member in good standing of a:

• • • • • Volunteer fire company;
        • Duly incorporated first-aid, rescue or ambulance squad; or
        • County or municipal volunteer Office of Emergency Management (provided the member’s official duties include responding to a fire or emergency call).

Leave is unpaid; there is no limit on the amount an eligible employee can take. However, if leave exceeds one workday, daily notice from the incident commander is required. Employees must give their employers at least one-hour advance notice of their absence from work to fulfill emergency services in response to a declared state of emergency or emergency alarm. In addition, employees must provide their employers with documentation verifying their absence was related to volunteer emergency services.