HPAE Supports Earned Sick Leave Law for New Jersey
December 18, 2014
Jeanne Otersen, HPAE Chief of Staff, testified before the New Jersey Assembly Budget Committee on Monday, December 15 in support of A.2354, a bill that would provide all New Jersey workers with earned sick leave. Currently, several cities in New Jersey – Newark, Jersey City,Trenton, Paterson, Passaic, Irvington, and Montclair – have adopted earned sick leave laws, but many workers in the state lack paid sick leave.
Besides providing a needed benefit to workers, Jeanne noted how important the law is for public health:
“The CDC may call for workers to stay home when they catch the flu, but 300,000 New Jersey workers just don’t have that choice at all. This legislation could have a huge impact in preventing contagion during flu season and deadly disease pandemics. Researchers estimate that if all U.S. workers had been able to earn paid sick days during the 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic, five million infections could have been prevented.”