STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman GREGORY P. MCGUCKIN
District 10 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits local governments from requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act prohibiting local governments from requiring paid sick leave and adding chapter 11D of Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the public interest that standards for the provision of paid sick leave be established by uniform Statewide policies because consistency and predictability for employers and employees is critical to economic growth and job creation; and that local control over paid sick leave would lead to patchwork regulation contrary to these goals.
2. a. A local unit shall not adopt an ordinance, resolution, or rule or regulation, or take any other action, requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave. Any ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation, or other action taken requiring such employers to provide paid sick leave shall be against public policy and be null and void. This section shall not be construed to supersede any statute under which a local unit may include labor requirements in the specifications for a public contract.
b. As used in this section:
“Local unit” means a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State, or a board, commission, department, or agency of any of the foregoing, but shall not include a school district or regional school district.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit a local government from requiring that private employers within its jurisdiction provide paid sick leave. Allowing these policies to be set at the local level would lead to patchwork regulation and place additional burdens on employers, stifling economic growth and job creation in the State. This bill would help make the State more economically competitive by providing greater consistency and predictability in employment rules across the State and limiting the burdens that localities may impose on employers, especially employers that operate in more than one municipality in the State.