A brand new Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) survey discovered 57 of 60 sampled New Jersey municipalities allegedly in violation of the state’s 2007 and/or 2010 sick leave laws. For example, 80% of the municipalities studied permitted municipal employees to cash out sick time upon resigning or taking a new position.
“The laws have been ignored, sidestepped, and undermined in almost all of the municipalities reviewed,” the report concludes. The waste likely totals millions of dollars, and it seems likely based upon the results that the statewide number of violating towns is larger than 57.
“One of the ways to drive down our nation-high property taxes would be to eliminate the sick-leave payouts. I have been pushing for this for more than 10 years and this report underscores the urgency to stop this abuse of taxpayer dollars,” said Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-21). “Sick leave is an insurance policy in the event you are too ill to work. It’s not meant to be a bonus, but public employees have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars when they cash in their accrued time. I think payout caps are good, but they are being largely ignored, so I would vote to eliminate the payments altogether.”
Munoz introduced A220 way back in 2012; had it been adopted, it would have prevented public officers and employees from receiving payouts for accrued and unused sick leave.
“It’s time to end the yearly bonuses disguised as sick-time payouts. I urge Legislative leadership to post the bills for a hearing as soon as practicable,” Munoz continued.
