The New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act will take effect on October 29th.  It requires New Jersey employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year to covered employees.

Employers are not required to permit employees to use more than 40 hours of sick leave in a benefit year.  Employees can use accrued sick time after 120th day of their first date of employment for the following reasons:

• Care or treatment of an employee’s own mental or physical illness including preventative medical care
• Aid or care for a covered family member during diagnosis
• Circumstances related to an employee or their family member’s status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence.
• Closure of an employee’s workplace or of a school/childcare of an employee’s child because of a public official’s order
• Time to attend a meeting requested or required by school to discuss a child’s health condition

The act provides employers with the discretion to choose the increments in which its employees may use accrued sick time. However, the largest increment chosen may not be larger than the number of hours an employee was scheduled to work in a given shift. For example, if an employee is scheduled to work a 7-hour shift, the employer cannot mandate that the employee use paid sick time in increments of eight hours.