All New Jersey employers, regardless of size, must follow the state’s paid sick leave law. Below are some frequently asked questions about the state's paid sick leave requirements.
How is paid sick leave earned and used?
- Paid sick leave accrues at a minimum rate of one hour per 30 hours worked.
- Employers may not cap accrued leave below 40 hours per year.
Can employers impose a probationary period?
- Employees must begin accruing leave hours as soon as they start working.
- Employers may require a probationary period of 120 calendar days be worked before using this time.
To unused hours carry over?
- Employees who accrue leave over time can carry over 40 hours of unused and earned paid sick leave from one year to the next.
When should an employee use paid sick leave?
Employees can use paid sick leave for themselves or a family member* for:
- Preventative medical care or routine appointments
- Professional medical diagnosis or care
- Treatment for a physical illness, injury, or medical condition
- Treatment for a mental illness, injury, or medical condition
- Therapy, care or treatment after domestic violence (e.g., counseling or legal action)
- Travel to and from a qualifying appointment
- Workplace or child’s school closure as a result of an official public emergency
- Child’s school-related conference or function
*Under New Jersey law, a “family member” is a child, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic or civil union partner, parent, or grandparent of the employee, including if the employee is the legal guardian. A spouse’s parent, grandparent, sibling, or other family member is also covered.
How to set up accrual policies in OnPay
Go to Payroll, then Set up, and click Accrual Policies.
Click Add in the upper right to open the Policy Setup template.
The Policy Setup template is divided into two parts:
- Policy name and type
- Policy setup
Policy name and type
Give this policy a unique name that sets it apart from other accruals. The name should make it very clear how and when this policy will apply. For this example, we'll make a sick time policy that accrues annually, but we'll explore many more examples later in this article.
Determine the timeframe by which accrued time is earned. Your choices are “Per hour worked,” “Per pay period,” or “Annual on anniversary date” (hire date).
Choose when these hours will expire, if ever. Your choices are “Hours do not expire”, “Hours expire on anniversary”, or “Hours expire on Jan 1st”.
Select the accrual type.
Policy Setup
The Policy Setup is in three periods. This means hours accrued by workers can increase with their tenure in up to three stages. To create a probationary period, where no time is accrued until this introductory period is over, enter "0" per hour, then the number of months in the probationary period. If you don't want accruals to increase, enter the same information in each period. Unused hours will rollover to the next period. We'll explore more examples later.
Note: Setting the "Cap" is not the same as setting a "rollover limit".
- Some businesses limit the amount of unused time off that an employee can continue to hold going into a new year. This is to ensure that employees are taking the time they need to live a balanced and full life, as well as to protect the business from employees taking or cashing out large sums of paid time off all at once. We'll show you how to limit rollover in How to assign time off accrual policies to employees→
First two periods
For the first two periods, enter:
- How many hours can be accrued each year
- For how many months time is accrued at this rate
- The limit, or cap for these hours.
Third period
You don’t need to indicate the number of months in the third period. This period lasts for the remainder of the worker's employment.
Click Create when you're ready to finalize this accrual. Clicking Not Now will close this window, but will not save your progress.