“Tonight, about a week after Jersey City became the first city in New Jersey with a paid sick days law, members of the Newark City Council have taken a critical step toward passing their own paid sick days standard for the state’s largest city. This is great news for the 38,000 people in Newark who do not have paid sick days, as well as the more than one million people in New Jersey who are counting on progress toward a statewide standard.

Newark would be the seventh city and eighth jurisdiction in the nation to guarantee paid sick days.* The proposed ordinance is comprehensive, ensuring that nearly all workers can earn the time they need to care for their health and their families without sacrificing their economic security. People who work in businesses with 10 or more employees and those who work in food service, child care and direct care would be able to earn up to five paid sick days a year. People who work in smaller businesses would be able to earn up to three paid sick days a year.

We commend members of the Newark City Council for proposing this common sense ordinance, and the strong coalition of workers, businesses and advocates that has come together in support of this common sense policy. We urge the Council to recognize the positive impact a paid sick days standard would have on Newark’s working families, businesses, public health and the local economy by approving the ordinance right away.”

* Paid sick days laws already exist in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Portland, Ore., New York City, Jersey City and the state of Connecticut.