For those of you who have lost count or lost track of effective dates of local ordinances, the following New Jersey municipalities have passed paid sick leave laws:

  • Bloomfield, effective June 30, 2015
  • East Orange, effective January 7, 2015;
  • Irvington, effective January 8, 2015;
  • Jersey City, effective January 24, 2014;
  • Montclair, effective March 4, 2015;
  • Newark, effective June 21, 2014;
  • Passaic, effective January 1, 2015;
  • Paterson, effective January 9, 2015; and
  • Trenton, effective March 4, 2015.

25318124_sEmployers in Trenton won a court battle earlier this year to make Trenton’s Ordinance only applicable to employers physically located in Trenton.  Other municipalities’ ordinances will apply to workers who provide services in the municipality for at least 80 hours in a year.  This means the ordinances apply to workers who travel to the municipalities to perform work even if not regularly scheduled to work there and even if the employer is not physically located in the municipality.

Posters are required in all of the municipalities. However, not every municipality has issued the required poster as of yet. The municipalities also require that notice be given to each employee.  For the municipalities where posters are available, if you need copies of the posters, the English posters can be accessed by clicking on the links below (other languages may be required by the ordinances and can be found on the municipalities’ websites):

I spoke with the Irvington Clerk’s office who advised that the Township will not be issuing a poster. Employers must still comply with the posting requirements, but must create their own posters. Bloomfield and East Orange have not yet issued a poster.

In further news, at least a few New Jersey representatives have realized the difficulties of trying to comply with nine different ordinances that are similar but not identical.  Legislation has been introduced in the New Jersey Assembly and Senate to prohibit municipalities from enacting laws that affect terms and conditions of employment.  A4363/S2865 were both introduced on May 7, 2015 and have been referred to the Labor Committees.  It will be interesting to see what kind of support the bills will get as the bill to require state-wide sick leave has stalled.