With the New Year approaching and employee leave accruals resetting, employers must be mindful of the continually-evolving laws governing employees’ use of, and entitlement to, leave time in the jurisdictions where they conduct business. For example, pursuant to New Jersey’s recently-enacted Earned Sick Leave Law, eligible employees must now accrue at least 1 hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours in a calendar year. Unless employees are paid for their accrued but unused sick leave time, up to 40 hours of such time may be carried over into the next benefit year. Similarly, effective March 30, 2019, Westchester County employers must begin complying with the county’s own Earned Sick Leave Law, featuring the same leave-accrual structure as the New Jersey law and, among other requirements, mandating that employers provide both current employees and new hires with a copy of the law itself, as well as written notice of the way in which the law applies to such individuals. Employers must ensure that their policies and procedures have been updated in order to comply with these new and rapidly-emerging requirements.
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