S2584

An Act concerning earned sick leave and amending P.L.2018, c.10.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 8 of P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-8) is amended to read as follows:

8. a. The governing body of a county or municipality shall not, after the effective date of this act, adopt any ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation regarding earned sick leave. The provisions of this act shall preempt any ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation regarding earned sick leave adopted by the governing body of a county or municipality.

b. No provision of this act, or any regulations promulgated to implement or enforce this act, shall be construed as:

(1) requiring an employer to reduce, or justifying an employer in reducing, rights or benefits provided by the employer pursuant to an employer policy or collective bargaining agreement which are more favorable to employees than those required by this act or which provide rights or benefits to employees not covered by this act;

(2) preventing or prohibiting the employer from agreeing, through a collective bargaining agreement or employer policy, to provide rights or benefits which are more favorable to employees than those required by this act or to provide rights or benefits to employees not covered by this act;

(3) prohibiting an employer from establishing a policy whereby an employee may donate unused accrued earned sick leave to another employee or other employees; or

(4) superseding any law providing collective bargaining rights for employees, or in any way reducing, diminishing, or adversely affecting those collective bargaining rights, or in any way reducing, diminishing, or affecting the obligations of employers under those laws.

Employees or employee representatives may waive the rights or benefits provided under this act during the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.

c. With respect to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of the effective date of this act, no provision of this act shall apply until:

(1) the stated expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, or

(2) if the contract does not expire or terminate, on the date at which time the contract becomes amendable. If a collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of the effective date of P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-1 et seq.) became amendable on or after the effective of P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-1 et seq.) but before the date of enactment of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the provisions of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall take effect upon the date of enactment of P.L. , c. (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

(cf: P.L.2018, c.10, s.8)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill amends the New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law, N.J.S.A.34:11D-1 et seq., to clarify that collective bargaining agreements that are amendable rather than only those that expire or are terminable are subject to the provisions of the act.

When New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave Law was enacted, it provided, with respect to workers subject to collective bargaining agreements in effect at the time the law was enacted, that the provisions of the law would apply to those workers upon the expiration of the collective bargaining agreements. However, not all contracts are terminable in nature. Some contracts, such as the contracts utilized in accordance with the “Railway Labor Act,” 45 U.S.C. s. 151 et seq., become amendable at a certain time. Once these contracts become amendable, a deliberative process ensues to create new working terms and conditions, and the status quo remains in effect until the creation of a new contract.

This bill ensures that workers who are subject to amendable contracts will receive sick leave under the State’s Earned Sick Leave Law.