Pols in Trenton have been fighting for 12 years to approve a bill that allows workers to care for newborn babies and sick family members without losing their entire salary. Yesterday, the Senate approved A873 - the paid family leave act - in a 21-15 vote. Workers will be able to take up to six weeks off at 2/3 pay, maxing out at $524 per week, to be with newborns, newly adopted kids, and parents, spouses or children who are ill. A mandatory employee payroll tax - estimated at $33 a year - will fund the benefit, expected to take effect July 1, 2009.
Governor Corzine stated he strongly supports the bill. From The Star Ledger:
"I feel actually more strongly in the context of my own experience that people are served well by having their family near them and supportive of them in periods of great stress. Emotional strength is just as important as physical strength."
Opponents to the bill were mostly Republicans, but included Democrat Senator Nia Gill:
Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) broke with her party and voted against the bill because it forfeits the rights of employees of small businesses to sue if they lose their jobs while on paid leave."I did not come here to strip people of their right of access to the courts," said Gill, an attorney. "This is a bill that, in good conscience, I cannot support."
The legislation looks dramatically different from when it was introduced more than a dozen years ago. The number of weeks off an employee could receive slipped from 12 to 10, and finally six. Employees who try to game the system face steeper fines than originally imagined: up to $1,000, compared to $250 in the original version.
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association never relented in their opposition to the bill.
July of 09' huh?
Bummer, babies due Sept. 09'
9 extra months is, I feel, a little too long to ask my wife to "hold it in" for, eh?