Jersey City Wants to Require Mandatory Sick Leave

Looking to join a movement that is gaining traction nationwide, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop is proposing that businesses in his city be required to offer sick days.

Fulop, a Democrat who was elected in May, said that offering sick days is an issue of economic justice for the working poor. Twenty percent of Jersey City families make less than $25,000 a year, according to census data.

“It’s a basic human dignity sort of issue,” Fulop said in an interview. “Even from an employer’s standpoint … a healthy worker is a productive worker.”

The bill, if passed by the City Council next week, would make Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city, the first municipality in the state to mandate sick leave, which only covers private employers. The city has seen an influx of banks and corporations along its waterfront, which is known as “Wall Street West.”

The issue of mandatory sick leave has been brewing nationwide. San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and Connecticut have all passed laws mandating sick leave. The New York City Council passed a law, over a veto from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, requiring employers with more than 20 workers to offer sick leave next year.

The proposal in Jersey City is more generous than most. It requires that businesses with 10 or more employees provide workers with up to five paid sick days; those with fewer employees must give up to five unpaid sick days. Workers accrue one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. A new employee will immediately start accruing sick time, but must wait until he or she has worked for 90 days to use the time.

The New Jersey Working Families Alliance, which supports the bill, said it will help low-wage workers such as home health aides and security officers. The organization plans a push for similar legislation in Newark, the state’s largest city, later this year.

“For workers without sick days, losing your job can be as easy as catching the flu, and that’s not right,” said executive director Bill Holland.

The laws have run into fervent opposition nationwide from business groups, which say they reduce productivity and increase cost, and have hit roadblocks. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter vetoed mandatory sick-day legislation earlier this year, and Denver voters rejected a referendum calling for it in 2011.

A bill mandating sick leave has been introduced in Congress. Similar attempts at federal legislation have failed in recent years.

“It has real-world impacts that are very, very hard for small businesses to absorb,” said Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the September 9th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.