Jersey City, New Jersey recently passed an ordinance that requires employers with 10 or more employees to provide 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, after that employee has worked 80 hours in Jersey City. This ordinance is very similar to one that was passed in New York City and one that is currently proposed in Newark, New Jersey. As this becomes more prevalent, it raises several questions for employers who have multiple locations or staff employees in those cities.
For example, what if you run a staffing agency that places employees in various offices throughout the state? Since the laws apply for all full-time, part-time or temporary employees who physically work in the city, the laws encompass those employed by staffing agencies. The employer does not have to be physically located in the city where the law applies in order for the obligations to apply as long as they have employees working in those locations. Thus for a staffing agency, if it has 10 or more employees total and they have employees who work more than 80 hours in a city with a paid sick leave law, those employees will accrue paid sick time at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked for a maximum of 40 hours per year.
It is the staffing agency's responsibility to keep track of and apply these new laws for its employees, which would include keeping track of both the number of hours worked in the city (to get to 80) and the amount of paid sick time that is accrued.
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