Tag: Paid Family Leave

One-Two Punch for NJ Employers: State Enacts Minimum Wage Rate Increases and Expands Paid Family Leave Insurance Benefits

New Jersey’s minimum wage rates will steadily climb to $15 per hour, and both the duration and amount of the state’s paid family leave insurance benefits will significantly increase, under two recently enacted laws.

New Minimum Wage Rates

On February 4, 2019, Governor Murphy signed a bill that substantially increases the state’s minimum wage rate for non-exempt hourly workers.

Prior to the bill’s enactment, the state’s minimum hourly wage, as of January 1, 2019, was $8.85. With a few exceptions for seasonal workers (who work between May 1 and September 30), employees employed by a “small business” with fewer than six employees, and agricultural laborers, the minimum hourly wage will rise to $15.00 by January 1, 2024, in accordance with the following schedule:

7/1/19 $10.00
1/1/20 11.00
1/1/21 12.00
1/1/22 13.00
1/1/23 14.00
1/1/24 15.00

For seasonal workers and employees of small businesses, the minimum hourly wage rate increases will be more gradual and will not reach the $15.00 rate until January 1, 2026, based on the following schedule:

1/1/20 $10.30
1/1/21 11.10
1/1/22 11.90
1/1/23 12.70
1/1/24 13.50
1/1/25 14.30
1/1/26 15.00

It will take an even longer period of time for farm laborers to reach a minimum hourly wage rate of $15, given the following schedule:

1/1/20 $10.30
1/1/22 10.90
1/1/23 11.70
1/1/24 12.50

Any further minimum rate increases for farm laborers would be tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (“CPI-W”).

New Jersey now joins three other states – California, New York and Massachusetts – as well as the District of Columbia in committing to minimum hourly wage rates that significantly exceed the current federal minimum hourly wage rate of $7.25.

Business groups in New Jersey have voiced two principal objections to the new minimum rates. First, the numbers threshold for meeting the “small employer” exception is relatively low – employers with six or more employees do not satisfy it. Second, the New Jersey statute, unlike the California and New York laws, makes no provision for suspending scheduled minimum hourly rate increases in the event of deteriorating economic conditions in the state.

Family Leave Enhancements

On February 19, 2019, Governor Murphy signed into law a bill that substantially expands the job-protected family leave requirements applicable to smaller employers under the New Jersey Family Leave Act (“FLA”), as well as expands the monetary benefits available under the paid family leave insurance (“FLI”) and temporary disability insurance (“TDI”) programs for employees employed in New Jersey.

Under the state’s leave and benefit programs (which must be coordinated with applicable federal requirements), an eligible employee may take time off from work and receive family insurance benefits during such leave to, among other things, care for a newborn child or a covered family member who is suffering from a serious health condition.

Effective immediately,

  • There no longer is a one-week waiting period before FLI benefits may be received.

  • Covered family members under the new law now include siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and parents-in-law, as well as others related to the employee by blood or who have a “close association with the employee” which is equivalent to a family relationship (though evidence of same must be provided by the employee).

  • FLI benefits may also be taken by a covered employee while taking time off from work pursuant to the NJ Security and Financial Empowerment Act (“SAFE Act”), to assist a covered family member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence.

  • An employer may not retaliate against an employee with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment because the employee took or requested any TDI or FLI benefits.

Effective June 30, 2019, NJ businesses employing at least 30 employees will be covered by the FLA and may not retaliate against employees returning from family leave by refusing to reinstate them, down from a 50 employee threshold.

Commencing July 1, 2020, the maximum duration of FLI leave benefits will increase from 6 to 12 weeks during any 12-month period; in cases of intermittent leave, the maximum FLI leave will increase from 42 days to 56 days. Further, the dollar amount of weekly FLI benefits will increase from two-thirds of a claimant’s average weekly wage to 85% of an employee’s average weekly wage, capped at $859 per week.

Although FLI benefits are funded entirely by employee contributions, NJ-based businesses have raised concerns that the broader eligibility for FLI leave, and the longer duration of such leaves, will increase business costs due to the need to pay more overtime wages to assure adequate staff coverage, or employ more temporary replacement workers, while eligible employees are out on leave. These increases may also lead to greater work load demands placed on regular employees who must cover while co-workers are out on such leave.

Employer Tips

NJ employers should assure that the wage rates they pay their employees meet the new NJ minimum wage rate thresholds.

Further, NJ employers should review and update their family leave policies to ensure that they comply with the requirements of the new law, which is complicated and substantially amends multiple existing laws.

 

© Copyright 2019 Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.

Wave of Recent and Transformative Pro-Employee Measures in New York

New York State and New York City lawmakers have taken several actions recently to expand employee rights and benefits. New York State has passed a 2016-2017 budget (“Budget”) that will significantly impact New York employers by creating a law governing paid family leave and enacting a statewide plan to incrementally increase the minimum wage resulting in a $15 minimum wage rate for some employers. Mayor Bill de Blasio also recently signed several bills amending the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), including 3 amendments that will strengthen existing employee protections.

Paid Family Leave

The New York State Budget enacts a paid family leave policy for New York employees (the “Paid Family Leave Law”) that will provide wage replacement to employees taking time o for covered reasons. Beginning January 1, 2018, employees who have worked for at least 6 months will be eligible for 8 weeks of paid leave benefits for the purpose of (1) caring for a family member with a serious health condition, (2) caring for a new child during the first 12 months after the child’s birth or after the first 12 months after placement of the child for adoption or foster care with the employee, or (3) addressing certain exigencies when a family member, including a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent, is called to active military service. Leave will be paid at a rate of 50% of the individual’s average weekly wage, not to exceed 50% of the state average weekly wage.

The length of leave benefits and amount of bene ts paid to eligible employees will increase incrementally. Once fully implemented on January 1, 2021, the Paid Family Leave Law will provide employees with up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to be paid at a rate of 67% of the individual’s average weekly wage, not to exceed 67% of the state average weekly wage.

Until New York passed the Paid Family Leave Law, only 3 states o ered any paid family leave: California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. While New York State lauds its Paid Family Leave Law as the “longest and most comprehensive in the nation,” this week San Francisco’s city supervisors voted to require employers with more than 20 employees to give workers six weeks of fully paid leave – a measure that is even more expansive than California’s current leave law that provides benefits for 55% of an employee’s average weekly wage. If signed into law, San Francisco’s paid leave law may be considered the most far-reaching in the nation.

But how does New York’s Paid Family Leave Law stack up against paid family leave insurance benefits o ered by its neighbor across the Hudson?

New York New Jersey
Employers Covered All Employers All Employers
Employees Eligible All employees who have worked for at least 6 months in NY All employees who have worked 20 calendar weeks
Reasons for Leave
  • care for newborn/newly adopted/foster child
  • care for family member with serious health condition
  • address exigencies associated with certain family members on active military service
  • care for newborn/adopted child
  • care for family members with serious health condition
Length of Benefits 12 weeks, once fully implemented 6 weeks during any 12 month period, with a different rate for intermittent leave
Amount of Benefits 67% of average weekly wage, not to exceed 67% of the state average weekly wage, once fully implemented 2/3 of employee’s average weekly wage, up to $524 per week maximum, with a different rate for intermittent leave
Job and Benefits Protection Requires reinstatement to the position held immediately prior to taking leave, or to a comparable position with comparable benefits. No job protection

Minimum Wage

New York’s Budget incorporates minimum wage increases throughout the State, which will increase the wage significantly from the current $9 per hour rate. The increases will be implemented in incremental phases and will vary by location within New York State and by the size of the employer’s business. By the end of 2018, many New York City businesses will be required to pay employees $15 per hour, which is the swiftest and most significant increase set forth in the Budget. However, New York City employers with 10 or fewer employees will experience smaller increases over a longer period leading to a $15 minimum wage rate at the end of 2019. Employers in other counties around New York City will reach the $15 per hour minimum wage rate by the end of 2021. Other areas in New York State will experience lesser increases, reaching a $12.50 minimum wage rate by the end of 2020 with further increases to be determined. New York is the second state to institute a $15 minimum wage rate, preceded by California which also recently implemented a phased-in increase to its minimum wage rates that will begin next year.

The Budget incorporates a “safety valve” provision, which provides that starting in 2019 the State Director of the Division of Budget will annually assess the impact of the minimum wage increases to determine whether it is necessary for the State to temporarily suspend the scheduled increases. Based on the Director’s recommendation and report, the Commission of Labor will determine whether or not to suspend or delay further increases to the minimum wage rate.

NYCHRL

The recent amendments to the NYCHRL, which already had some of the broadest employee protections in the country, further strengthen employee protections in New York City. Speci cally, the NYCHRL has been amended to benefit employees by:

  • codifying three judicial decisions, including by expressly stating that the statute must be interpreted liberally to accomplish “uniquely broad and remedial purposes” regardless of whether similar civil and human rights provisions under federal or state law have been similarly construed and that any and all exceptions and exemptions found in the statute must “be construed narrowly in order to maximize deterrence of discriminatory conduct.”

  • permitting a claimant to recover attorneys’ fees, expert fees and other costs in an administrative proceeding before the New York City Commission on Human Rights; and

  • repealing several provisions that were previously interpreted to limit protections related to sexual orientation.

Each of these amendments is effective immediately.

Tips for Employers

New York employers should review their policies regarding leave and ensure any necessary updates are made in advance of the Paid Family Leave Law’s January 1, 2018 implementation date. Similarly, the varied and incremental increases to the minimum wage rate throughout New York State will require New York employers to closely monitor their payroll practices to ensure that they properly implement minimum wage requirements. The employment-related amendments to the NYCHRL do not create a rmative requirements on employers. However, employers should bear in mind that New York City’s ever expanding NYCHRL creates unique challenges for employers seeking to defend claims. We will continue to update you as courts interpret these new measures, and if and when regulations are issued to address more nuanced concerns about the new legislation.

Article By David I. Rosen, Galit Kierkut, Charles H. Kaplan & Grace A. Byrd of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.

© Copyright 2016 Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.