This act will require all New Jersey employers of all sizes to provide up to 40 hours (5 days) of paid sick leave to all full or part-time employees.

Under this act, local churches with full or part-time employees will need to ensure their policies and practices are compliant by:

1. Allowing employees to accrue 1 hour of sick leave time per 30 hours worked, with a cap of 40 hours (5 days) per benefit year. (A “benefit year” is a 12 consecutive month period.)
   a. Employees may use earned sick leave beginning on the 120th calendar day after the date of hire or the law goes into effect whichever is later.
2.  Allowing employees to carry-over unused sick leave to the next year or have a policy that offers the option in which employees have an opportunity to accept payment for unused sick leave. However:
   a. Employers are not required to allow more than 40 hours (5 days) of earned sick leave to be carried over to the next benefit year.
   b. Employers are not entitled to payout unused sick leave upon termination of employment.
3. Paying employees for earned sick leave time at their regular rate of pay.
4. Allowing employees to use earned sick leave time for:
   a. Medical care scheduled or unscheduled for themselves, or a family member
   b. Time to aid or care for a family member due to illness, injury, or a victim of violence
   c. Closure of the workplace, school, or day cares due to public health emergency
   d. Attending a school related meeting required by the employee’s child’s school

As an employer the local church is also required to provide employees with notice of this policy within 30 days of being drafted or upon being hired.

The Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor will also be developing a notice to be posted in all workplaces and it will be available on the conference website when finalized. The employer is also required to retained records of hours worked and sick leave taken for at least 5 years.

The United Methodist Church of Greater NJ has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information and it should be used for informational purposes only. Every local church should review their own unique situation and contact the NJ Department of Labor, or the Conference Treasurer for any further questions or additional resources.