The Assembly and Senate are moving quickly (maybe too quickly!) on several legislative proposals that are important to staffing firms and the rest of NJ's business community. They only have a few weeks before the Legislature must turn its attention to next year's state budget, so the leadership is working to get several major initiatives passed and sent to the governor prior to budget time. Two important proposals are in rapid consideration:

Earned Sick Leave:

Two competing bills are currently in consideration to create a statewide earned leave program (A-1827 and S-2171). In the Assembly A-1827 is being amended and currently is the better bill. It establishes a maximum of 40 hours per year of earned sick leave (compared to 72 hours in S-2171), has a waiting period of 120 days (100 days in S-2171), allows employers to establish their own policy on time increments an employee must use to take leave (S-2171 allows for the lowest time increment in the payroll system), and totally pre-empts and replaces current and future municipal and county ordinances on earned leave (S-2171 leaves current ordinances in force). NJSA believes the sponsors of A-1827 have been responsive to the business community (including NJSA) on this issue and hopes the Senate will at least adopt A-1827's approach.

Equal Pay:

Unlike earned sick leave, both the Assembly and Senate leadership are on a common platform with two identical bills (A-1 and S-104) which originally were focused on Equal Pay for women but now have been broadened to include Equal Pay protections for all protected classes (sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran, etc.). The common bill has a significantly anti-business, pro-plaintiff attorney approach and does not provide clear definition of "pay discrimination" to assist business avoid liability, plus it has increased significantly back pay liability from a "normal" federal and state limit of two years to six years plus treble damages and attorney's fees. For state contractors, there are required reports and their associated administrative costs and exposure of business information in the public records.

NJSA's Legislative Committee is in frequent dialogue with sponsors and members of the Legislature on these and other issues, but we need your involvement. They need to know that staffing firm owners and managers in their districts are concerned about their deliberations and votes. Please click here and send two emails; one regarding the Equal Pay issue and a second one to introduce yourself and your firm to your legislators. Remember, if you have multiple offices, please send emails from not only your home address but the address of all of your branch locations.