On April 1, 2020, the Paid Emergency Sick Leave Act Law became law. The Act provides sick time to employees who are unable to work due to Covid 19 related illness.
Sick time is to be paid to an employee if one of the following occurs:
(1) An employee experiencing symptoms of Covid 19 and is seeking medical diagnosis;
(2) An employee is in Quarantine or isolation due to Covid 19 infection;
(3) Self Quarantine is ordered by a health care provider;
(4) An employee is caring for a child due to the school of child care closure due to Covid 19.
(5) An employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of Labor.
Who Does The Sick Leave Act Apply To?
The Sick Leave Act applies to private or public sector employers with less than 500 employees. There is also an option for employers with less than 50 employees to apply for an exemption from the Department of Labor. The standard for applying for the exemption is if compliance will jeopardize the viability of the business as an on-going concern. The Department of Labor has released some guidelines for the latter provision.
What Benefits are Paid?
An employee can use existing sick leave benefits instead of the sick leave benefits provided by this new Act but cannot be forced to use their existing sick leave benefits. If the employee opts for the new Act benefits then a Full-Time employee is entitled to up to 80 hours of sick time leave. In effect, two weeks of sick leave. A Part-Time employee is entitled to 2/3’s of the amount of their usual pay.
The paid sick time cannot exceed the following amounts:
$511.00 per day to a maximum of $5,110.00 for reasons (1), or (2) listed above.
200.00 per day to a maximum of $2,000.00 for reasons (3), (4), and (5) listed above.
Under the Act, Employers will receive a tax credit for payments made to employees so that is good news for employers.
For more information on the Family First Sick Leave Act please click here. For More information on your rights related to receiving Workers Compensation in lieu of sick leave, please click here.
If you are involved in a car accident in New Jersey, you must be prepared to act properly to avoid getting in trouble.
A driver in New Jersey cannot leave the scene of an accident. If you do leave the scene of the accident you risk getting a Summons which could result in points on your license and loss or suspension of your driver’s license.
If you or another driver is injured, you should if conditions permit immediately call 911 and advise the operator of your location and medical condition. If you are unable to call 911, do not panic and attempt to stay calm as other drivers will undoubtedly pull over to attempt to help you or they will contact the police to advise them of the accident.
If possible, you should pull over into the shoulder of the road as to avoid the danger of being in the middle of the roadway. Being on the shoulder is usually a lot safer than being in the roadway.
If the accident is minor in nature and you are able to communicate with the other driver, attempt to exchange information. At a minimum, you should gather your car registration, your driver’s license and your insurance card which the investigating police officer will need in order to write up a police report. If you cannot find these documents in your car, you can provide these documents at a later date. Every motor vehicle in New Jersey is required to have Automobile Insurance. Failure to have Automobile Insurance is a very serious motor vehicle violation which carries with it a mandatory one-year loss of license.
On occasion, an insurance company will raise the Intoxication Defense (NJSA 34:15-7) to prevent an injured worker from receiving workers compensation benefits.
The proofs necessary to establish that the intoxication is the sole and proximate cause of the injury makes the defense extremely hard to establish. The same standard applies to alcohol intoxication and/or illegal drug use.
An example of how difficult it is to establish the Intoxication Defense is the Warner v. Vanco Mfg. Inc., 299 N.J. Super. 349 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 151 N.J. 72 (1997). In Warner, the injured worker had spent the night before and the morning of his accident drinking alcohol beverages including one-half gallon of vodka. His blood alcohol level was .29 which was almost three times the legal limit to drive in New Jersey. By today’s law, the injured worker’s blood alcohol level is over three times the legal limit of .08
The Workers Compensation Judge however found that the Intoxication Defense did not apply. Co-workers testified that the injured worker was not staggering around on the worksite and that the crane hook which the injured worker was trying to attach when he fell off a scaffolding was not working properly. Thus, the Workers Compensation Judge found that the intoxication was not the sole and proximate cause of the injury and the injured worker was entitle to Workers Compensation benefits.
Another example of how difficult the Intoxication Defense is to establish is the 2006 case of Tlumac v. High Bridge Stone, 187 NJ 567 (2006). A truck driver who had a one-vehicle truck accident and whose blood alcohol level was established to be between .10 and .18 at the time of his accident was found to have a compensable workers compensation case. The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a Workers Compensation Judge’s decision based upon the fact that other factors may have contributed to the accident including excessive hours of work in weeks prior to the accident and exhaustion from the truck driver repairing his home’s roof the night before the accident. The New Jersey Supreme court upheld the Workers Compensation judge’s decision based on reviewing the Intoxication Defense statutory language which states that the employer must prove that intoxication is the sole and proximate cause of injury or death. Thus, in Tlumac, the injured workers attorney was able to establish through evidence that Tlumac had worked excessive hours in weeks before the accident and had been exhausted from repairing his home’s roof the night before the accident.
The lesson learned when confronted with an Intoxication Defense is to determine whether, in fact, the intoxication is the “sole and proximate cause of injury or death”. If it is not, the injured worker will be entitled to workers compensation benefits even if he/she is intoxicated.
Most drivers in New Jersey are unaware of whether they have selected a Verbal Threshold or a No Threshold option on their insurance policy.
What is a Verbal Threshold or No Threshold? Verbal Threshold limits your right to sue if you are injured in an automobile accident. No Threshold provides that you have no limitation on your right to sue if you are injured in an automobile accident.
