Articles Tagged with paid time off

We are all in a state of high anxiety over COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus.  While we need to put personal and community health concerns first, nobody should have to lose his or her job as a result of this crisis.

But what are your New Jersey employment law rights as they relate to this pandemic?

Time off from Work

New Sick Leave Requirements

Earlier this month, Governor Phil Murphy signed an important new employment law that requires employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees.  Specifically, New Jersey’s new paid sick leave law requires employers to provide most employees one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work.  Employers must permit employees to use this earned sick leave for:

  1. New Jersey Enacts Strong Paid Sick Leave LawThe employee’s diagnosis, care, treatment, or recovery from a mental or physical illness or injury, or preventive medical care;

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers to pay employees for breaks during the workday that are no longer than 20 minutes long.

American Future Systems, which does business as Progressive Business Publications, publishes and sells business publications.  Progressive pays its sales representatives by the hour, plus bonuses based on how much they sell, for the time they are logged onto their work computers.  Most of Progressive’s employees are paid minimum wage.

Employees entitled to be paid for short breaksIn the past, Progressive allowed its employees to take two paid fifteen-minute breaks per day.  But in 2009, the company implemented what it called a “flex time” policy.  Under this policy, employees were permitted to log off of their computers whenever they wanted, for as long as they wanted, as long as they worked the agreed-upon total number of hours per week.  But under this new policy, Progressive did not pay employees if they logged off of their computers for more than 90 seconds.  In other words, it stopped paying them for breaks that lasted more than 90 seconds.

According to a recent report in the New Jersey Law Journal, New Jersey State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora is planning to propose legislation to improve paid family leave benefits.

New Jersey employees entitled to paid family leavesThe New Jersey Paid Family Leave Act, which was passed in 2009, permits eligible employees to take up to 6 weeks of paid family leave per year.  Employees who take family leave receive up to two-thirds of their compensation, with a maximum benefit of $615 per week.

Assemblyman Gusciora is seeking to add protection against retaliation for employees who take time off under the Paid Family Leave Act.  Although there are many other statutes that protect employees against retaliation under certain circumstances, currently there is no such protection in the Act.

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