Requires employers whose employees are subject to contracts that are amendable and do not expire to provide earned sick leave.

S3510

SENATE, No. 3510

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 12, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANTHONY M. BUCCO

District 25 (Morris and Passaic)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires employers whose employees are subject to
contracts that are amendable and do not expire to provide earned sick leave.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning earned sick leave and amending
P.L.2018, c.10.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 8 of P.L.2018,
c.10 (C.34:11D-8) is amended to read as follows:

���� 8.��� a. The governing body of
a county or municipality shall not, after the effective date of this act, adopt
any ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation regarding earned sick
leave.� The provisions of this act shall preempt any ordinance, resolution,
law, rule, or regulation regarding earned sick leave adopted by the governing
body of a county or municipality.

���� b.��� No provision of this
act, or any regulations promulgated to implement or enforce this act, shall be
construed as:

���� (1)�� requiring an employer to
reduce, or justifying an employer in reducing, rights or benefits provided by
the employer pursuant to an employer policy or collective bargaining agreement
which are more favorable to employees than those required by this act or which
provide rights or benefits to employees not covered by this act;

���� (2)�� preventing or
prohibiting the employer from agreeing, through a collective bargaining
agreement or employer policy, to provide rights or benefits which are more
favorable to employees than those required by this act or to provide rights or
benefits to employees not covered by this act;

���� (3)�� prohibiting an employer
from establishing a policy whereby an employee may donate unused accrued earned
sick leave to another employee or other employees; or

���� (4)�� superseding any law
providing collective bargaining rights for employees, or in any way reducing,
diminishing, or adversely affecting those collective bargaining rights, or in
any way reducing, diminishing, or affecting the obligations of employers under
those laws.

���� Employees or employee
representatives may waive the rights or benefits provided under this act during
the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.

���� c.���� With respect to
employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of
the effective date of this act, no provision of this act shall apply until
:

����
(1)
the stated
expiration of the collective bargaining agreement,
or�

����
(2) if the contract does
not expire or terminate, on the date at which time the contract becomes
amendable.� If a collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of the
effective date of P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-1 et seq.) became amendable on or
after the effective of P.L.2018, c.10 (C.34:11D-1 et seq.) but before the date
of enactment of P.L.��� , c.��� (pending before the Legislature as this bill),
the provisions of P.L.��� , c.��� (pending before the Legislature as this bill)
shall take effect upon the date of enactment of P.L.��� , c.��� �(pending
before the Legislature as this bill)
.

(cf: P.L.2018, c.10, s.8)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill amends the New
Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law, N.J.S.A.34:11D-1 et seq., to clarify that
collective bargaining agreements that are amendable rather than only those that
expire or are terminable are subject to the provisions of the act.�

���� When New Jersey�s Earned Sick
Leave Law was enacted, it provided, with respect to workers subject to
collective bargaining agreements in effect at the time the law was enacted,
that the provisions of the law would apply to those workers upon the expiration
of the collective bargaining agreements.� However, not all contracts are
terminable in nature.� Some contracts, such as the contracts utilized in
accordance with the �Railway Labor Act,�
45 U.S.C. s. 151 et seq., become amendable at a
certain time.� Once these contracts become amendable, a deliberative process
ensues to create new working terms and conditions, and the status quo remains
in effect until the creation of a new contract.�

���� This bill ensures that workers
who are subject to amendable contracts will receive sick leave under the
State�s Earned Sick Leave Law.�