By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A liberal special interest group on Monday urged the Princeton Council to require businesses to provide their employees paid sick leave, as an issue debated nationally makes its way to Princeton.
New Jersey Working Families Alliance wants Princeton to become the 10th municipality in the state to put that mandate on employers. Invited by Mayor Liz Lempert, representatives from the organization lobbied the council and found a sympathetic ear from local officials who plan to explore the issue more.
“I certainly would like to pursue this. I’m very interested,” said Councilwoman Heather H. Howard, who sees it as a public health issue.
“It’s a concept that in general I support,” Council President Bernard P. Miller said, adding that the measure needs to be enforceable.
Advocates said paid, earned sick leave would allow employees to care for themselves, sick children or relatives without having to worry about the loss of income. The executive director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance told the council that President Barack Obama raised the issue of paid sick time in his state of the union address in January.
“And most of the support is because it’s becoming very apparent that when it comes to this issue, the positive economic impact for workers is undeniable,” Analilia Mejia told the council. “The economic impact for low-wage workers is significant because it’s the difference between putting food on the table.”
She did not have specifics on how many workers in Princeton that a paid sick leave ordinance would help. But the issue has caught the attention of the local business community.
Restaurateur Jack Morrison, representing the 144 businesses in the Princeton Merchants Association, told council “we’re aware (and) concerned.”
In New Jersey, Jersey City was the first municipality to enact an ordinance calling for paid sick leave. Eight others followed, including two, Montclair and Trenton, by voter referendum.
“It’s something that’s really building across the state … ,” said Craig Garcia, the political director of Working Families.
A measure on the books in Newark says employees are eligible for sick time, regardless of whether they are full or part time, so long as they work 80 hours in the city “per year.” One hour of sick time is earned for every 30 hours worked, at a cap of 40 hours’ sick time a year for businesses with more than 10 employees.
The law exempts public sector employees, employees of Rutgers University and construction union members in a collective bargaining agreement.
“I think we need to continue the dialogue, we need to understand what the impact is going to be on the businesses in our community,” Mr. Miller said.
Like Princeton, the nine other New Jersey towns that require paid sick time are staunchly Democratic, progressive leaning. Most also have a high percentage of poor and low-income workers.
This is not the only issue Working Families works on. The organization also champions other liberal causes, including climate change, and is a staunch critic of Gov. Chris Christie, who opposes making sick time a state law.
While no federal or state legislation appears likely to pass anytime soon, Ms. Mejia’s organization is working with Democratic towns to get its agenda item passed.“It’s piece by piece, it’s local initiative by local initiative that we’re going to build the momentum to protect workers until … the politicians elsewhere get their acts straight and actually do something that’s actually beneficial for New Jersey working families,” she said.
