Sick Pay? Sick in the Head!

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

SneezeTrenton’s mistakes aren’t what make it remarkable, Save Jerseyans.

It’s Trenton’s penchant for doubling-down on clearly perceptible, unambiguously disastrous decisions which produce the jaw-drop effect in those of us with a brain!

The example on mind: sick leave pay.

Sick leave pay is another cost-driver in our state’s fiscally-unstable public sector. You may’ve seen a new report concerning the approximately $85,000 payout to a former Asbury Park police chief down at the Shore and, a little further up the Garden State Parkway, an equally mind-blowing $188,000 payout for a former Union City school superintendent. There are examples like this up and down the state. Untold millions of dollars are wasted, annually, to pay public workers extra for time that they were doing what they were already paid to do… work. For us.

INSANITY.

And yet the Trenton majority continues to ignore the efforts of colleagues like Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth who rightly called the status quo system “catastrophic” for municipal budgets and proposed a legislative cap. “Most of us don’t get to retire at age 47 and then collect an $87,000 pension the rest of our lives,” added AFP-NJ Director Daryn Iwicki. “If former Police Chief Kinmon lives until 80, he’ll have received more than $2.8 million in pension benefits. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like more than enough. He shouldn’t be getting $85,000 more just because he didn’t use sick and vacation time. It’s not fair. It’s not right.”

Agreed. And Senator Beck isn’t alone feeling more than a little disgusted. Her legislation, S2318, is supported (at least on paper) by Senate President Sweeney Sweeney (D-03) and Joe Kyrillos (R-13) in the Senate; an Assembly bill, A158, is being pushed by Declan O’Scanlon (R-13), Donna Simon (R-16), Nancy Munoz (R-21), Caroline Casagrande (R-11), and no less than 16 others GOP’ers in the chamber.

But Sweeney sets the agenda under the dome more or less. He’s got to deal with Vinny Prieto’s commie caucus down the hall, true enough; still, if he really wanted it done, then it’d suddenly be a legislative priority. So what gives?

The answer: Democrats have different priorities than you and I. Since the concept of sick time payouts worked sooo well in the public sector, rather than work to reform it, they’re busy pushing to impose the concept upon the private sector.

They want New Jersey to become the 2nd state in America with mandatory paid sick leave for all employees.

Their brains operate assbackwards. I’m convinced. What other explanation is there? You’re supposed to look to the private sector and implement successful ideas within the halls of government to HELP… drum roll, please… the private sector! It pays the bills, after all. Trenton sees things differently, and that disconnect is most of the reason why we’re constantly over a barrel in terms of our fiscal fortunes. They take failed, craptastic concepts from the public sector (e.g. sick time payouts) and then export modified versions to everyone else (e.g. paid sick leave). 

It makes me… sick.

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

4 Comments

  1. Yet another reason why people are fleeing the Garden State in droves and relocating to places like Florida. Did I mention that we don’t have a state income tax down here and that my property taxes dropped by 90%? And yet, thanks to Gov. Scott and a Republican legislature, we had a budget surplus this year. The welcome mat is always out, my friend!

  2. I have long wondered just who does the recorded keeping that “seems” to show no sick time or vacation used! Find it totally unbelievable that some of these people took NO vacation for years!! Maybe better management and record keeping are required as well.

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