A report that Englewood Cliffs’s former Deputy Police Chief is getting more than $441,000 in payouts, a sum which includes almost $120,000 in exchange for 150 unused sick days, has some legislators clamoring for long-neglected sick leave reforms.
“Sick days are there to be used during an employee’s tenure. They aren’t some kind of retirement present from the taxpayers,” said State Senator Gerald Cardinale of Bergen County. “A $440,000 check will get you a pretty nice boat, but if you want a new one you shouldn’t be buying it on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Cardinale is a sponsor for S-849, legislation which would end so-called “boat checks” by banning state and local governments from paying supplemental compensation to current or future employees for accumulated unused sick leave.
Sick leave payouts cost cash-strapped New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars on an annual basis.
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