Denise Coyle, R-16
On Jan. 1, New Jersey is implementing the “Paid Family Leave Act,” approved on May 2, 2008, by the legislature.
This new law requires employers, with one or more employees, to provide paid family leave benefits allowing workers to take up to six weeks off, with partial wage replacement, to care for family members. Benefits are not available to employees until July 1.
This legislation imposed $100 million in payroll taxes paid by the employees and authorized a $25 million loan from the Temporary Disability Insurance fund when New Jersey cannot afford to fund its existing program. On Jan. 1, employers will be responsible for remitting to the state the new employee tax.
I, together with Assemblymen Peter Biondi and David Rible, have introduced legislation, A3421, that would suspend the enactment of the “Paid Family Leave Act” for a year during these dire economic times. Additionally, Assemblyman Peter Biondi and I have written to Gov. Jon Corzine exhorting him to suspend the act for one year, or in the alternative at least until unemployment drops below 4.8 percent, which is the New Jersey unemployment rate average of the last five years, for three consecutive months.
The timing of this new law could not be worse. The current economic climate is very different from when this legislation was signed into law. According to the New Jersey Department of Labor, the state has lost more than 20,000 jobs this year. New Jersey is identified as having the highest taxes in the nation. New Jersey is considered one of the most business unfriendly states.
We need to take steps to help struggling businesses not enacting laws that will push them out of business or out of our state.
Further, with approximately two weeks away before this law takes effect, the New Jersey Department of Labor has provided businesses with very little guidance on collection and remission of this payroll tax, leaving businesses with very little direction on how to comply with the law.
If this bill is enacted at this critical economic juncture, we will lose more jobs and the very people this bill was intended to help could in reality be harmed by its impact.
I feel strongly that this is not good law for the health of our economy and that business and communities have not been given proper notification to implement the act. I ask you to contact Gov. Corzine at 609-292-6000 or e-mail www.state.nj.us/governor and urge him to support A-3421.
Denise Coyle, R-Branchburg, represents the 16th District in the New Jersey Assembly.
