Paid Time Off

“California, hold my drink,” said New Jersey. (A post about paid sick leave) – UPDATE

May 4, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/nurse-temperature-thermometer-309731/)

[UPDATED (12:30 PM Eastern): I made a few mistakes in the original post that I am correcting now. First, the link to the paid sick leave law was to a prior version of the law. I corrected that with an updated link. Second, employees can accrue a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave per year, not 72 as mentioned in the original post. I have corrected that as well. I apologize for the mistakes and any confusion they may have created. I also clarified the accrual rules. Fortunately, the new law doesn’t take effect for 180 days. So, there is still time to prepare.]

On the heels of passing the strongest equal pay law in the entire nation, New Jersey has outdone itself.

California, eat your heart out. New Jersey has done it again by passing a new law requiring paid sick leave for employees. Continue reading

Mandatory paid sick leave could be coming to New Jersey too.

March 29, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By No machine-readable author provided. ChrisRuvolo assumed (based on copyright claims). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

New Jersey ain’t done yet, dudes! Continue reading

Three key areas that could make 2018 the year of the employee handbook overhaul

December 5, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

Read on, HR enthusiasts. Continue reading

I was this close to playing Mad Libs with Gov. Christie’s veto of NJ’s Paid Family Leave expansion.

July 25, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

But, the guy’s been through so much in the past year.

Plus, I’m not certain that any of my Millennial readers know what Mad Libs are. As far as I know, they haven’t developed a Mad Libs Snapchat filter and Mad Libs wouldn’t make for a compelling podcast. Continue reading

Oh, hey! A paid family leave bill has made its way back to Congress.

February 9, 2017 | by Eric B. Meyer

A little over three years ago, I blogged here about the Senate and House each introducing the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. (FAMILY Act). The FAMILY Act, which never made it out of Congress to President Obama, would have created a national paid family and medical leave program for all workers, male and female.

Well, guess what’s back?

What can you do about employees missing work today with a Super Bowl hangover?

February 8, 2016 | by Eric B. Meyer

Panthers. Broncos. Meh.

Doritos won the Super Bowl, amirite?

But, for the 10% of your workforce that may be missing work today, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get their opinions on the Super Bowl commercials. Many of those employees told you in advance that today would be a day off. But, what will you do about the others who don’t show up for work?

POLL: Should Congress require companies to provide paid family and medical leave from work?

September 16, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Last week, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to provide paid sick leave. More on that here. The Department of Labor has a roadshow and social media campaign, through which it is touting the benefits of paid family and medical leave. And the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act is currently pending in Congress. This bill would provide create a family and medical leave insurance program.

As the debate over government-mandated paid sick leave continues, Patrick Kulp at Mashable reports here that over 200 faculty members from 88 institutions across the country, including MBA programs at NYU, Harvard and Wharton, have signed this open letter calling upon Congress to adopt a national paid family and medical leave policy.

President Obama requires federal contractors to offer paid sick leave

September 8, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

I swear. If you put ketchup on that Labor Day hot dog, I’ll find and you and— Oh, hey! Didn’t see you there. Happy Tuesday to you. I hope that you had a nice mustard-covered-hot-dog-filled Labor Day. Me? I ~~forgot how bloody awful it was to spend hours in blazing heat~~ miniature golfing with four kids. I was pretty sweet, I tell you.

But, did you see the news yesterday? President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to ensure that employees on those contracts can earn up to 7 days or more (56+ hours) of paid sick leave annually.

Ok, how about the details…

REMINDER: Philadelphia’s Paid Sick Time law goes into effect today

May 13, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

If you are a Philadelphia employer, check out my post from February and this poster. While the new law requires employers of 10 or more to provide paid sick leave, those with 9 or few employees must still provide unpaid sick leave. If you haven’t done so already, update your employee handbooks.

For the rest of you (and, I suppose, my Philadelphia employer readers too), the results of yesterday’s Facebook poll are in…and not all that surprising.

71% of those who responded would fire an employee who identifies herself on Facebook as one of your employees and, in a status update, praises the murder of two police officers. Others would either discipline/counsel the employee (21%), or do nothing to the employee (4%). One of you would consult the company’s social media policy before taking action. Another one of you would discuss with the employee first and then decide what to do.

Paid sick leave becomes the law in Philadelphia

February 13, 2015 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in December, I warned you (here) that, after two failed attempts to enact paid sick leave in Philadelphia, the third time may be the charm in 2015.

I was right.

(Want to rub my head for good luck? Or hire me as your employment lawyer? Yeah, let’s go with the second one.)

Yesterday, Mayor Nutter signed into law a paid sick leave bill that passed City Council by a vote of 14-2. The new law, which will apply to businesses with at least 10 employees, will allow employees to accrue an hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours of work. It goes into effect in 90 days.