The 2018 New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law (NJ §34:11D-1) preempts local paid-sick laws, including Newark's pioneering 2014 Title 17 ordinance, applying one statewide standard of up to 40 hours.
Newark passed one of the country's first municipal paid-sick-leave ordinances in 2014, codified at Title 17. In 2018 New Jersey adopted the Earned Sick Leave Law (NJ §34:11D-1), guaranteeing all employees up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per benefit year accrued at one hour per 30 worked, and explicitly preempted local ordinances. The state law covers full-time, part-time, and most temporary workers, with no employer-size carve-out. Newark's ordinance still appears in the code but is functionally superseded by the broader, more generous state framework.
Denying earned sick leave or retaliating against a worker for using it can trigger back pay, reinstatement, civil penalties, and private lawsuits in Superior Court under the state law.
See how Newark's paid leave preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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