By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday that the council would wait until after August to consider an ordinance requiring private sector employers to give paid sick time to their employees who work in Princeton.
In speaking to reporters, she acknowledged that the idea is “controversial” but said it is one that she supports. So far, nine towns in New Jersey have such a requirement.
“I feel this is an important issue and it’s something that’s being talked about at all levels of government all over the country,” she said. “And I think it’s important that we talk about it here in Princeton, so that’s why we’re talking about it.”
In her comments, she said Princeton needed to be a “humane town” and pointed to other policies that officials have taken along those lines, including a measure to crack down on wage theft.
Paid sick time has gained momentum quickly in Princeton.
Within the past two weeks, representatives of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a liberal political organization, have lobbied council to adopt such an ordinance and said it expects the council to introduce the measure soon. There is no timetable for council action.
Mayor Lempert said that as a “general rule of thumb,” the council does not consider “controversial” legislation in August, typically a dead month in town when many residents go away.
“We want to make sure people have a chance to make their voices heard and to help us in crafting good legislation,” she said. “I don’t see us moving on this particular issue – because I know there’s a lot of people who have strong feelings about it – until the summer’s over.”
She would not predict how council would vote on the measure, although Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller has said it would pass.
Mayor Lempert said the paid sick time requirement is “not intended to be anti-business.” In the past, she has advocated for raising the minimum wage and supported putting a limit on the hours of operation for a business located next to a residential zone.
She said she fully appreciates paid sick time is a “controversial issue,” yet she said it is one of a host of issues that higher levels of government have not addressed.
“(D)oing it on the local level is not ideal,” she said. “But a lot of the things that we’re being asked to do at the municipal level are because action that should be taken at the state level and federal level is not being taken. So then your choice is either do nothing or try to do something that’s hopefully better than nothing at the local level.”
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech to spotlight the issue of paid sick time. In the past, Mayor Lempert has traveled to meet with Obama administration officials, but she said Monday that the sick pay measure did not originate from those discussions.
