The Jersey Journal - January 24, 2014, by Terrence McDonald - When Jersey City in September 2012 became the first New Jersey municipality to mandate that most private businesses provide paid sick leave for its workers, Mayor Steve Fulop predicted a legal fight.

Four months later, and no lawsuit filed, the measure is now law.

Fulop called today “very exciting.”

“I think it’s going to help tens of thousands of working families in Jersey City,” he said at an event at Saint Peter's University.

Jersey City is the sixth city in the nation to force private businesses to provide paid sick time. The law affects employers with 10 or more workers, and was opposed by state- and countywide business groups.

Paid sick time laws have become a favored cause of liberals and labor unions. Both groups hailed Jersey City when Fulop first proposed the measure last year, and they extolled the city again today.

“This law respects the dignity of workers, protects the public health and will mean savings for businesses big and small. When workers can earn sick days, everybody wins,” said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of the New Jersey Citizen Action and spokesperson for the New Jersey Time to Care Coalition.

Other cities that have implemented similar mandates include Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle. New York City, which passed a similar law last year, is set to strengthen it under its new, more liberal mayor.

Business groups have opposed the mandate wherever it's been implemented, but in San Francisco, which in 2006 became the first in the nation to require paid sick leave, thanks to a voter referendum, some who opposed the requirement subsequently said it hadn't affected businesses much, if at all.

An audit in Washington, D.C., found the law had not led to fewer businesses opening, though local businesses owners said they had cut back on hours.

Michael Egenton, a senior vice president at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, fears that paid sick leave, together with new health-care regulations and the state’s new minimum-wage increase, could convince businesses to relocate.

Egenton also expressed concern about local governments implementing these types of regulations.

“Whatever happened to the freedom of enterprise?” he said today, adding that he believes business owners will reward employees with benefits like paid sick time even if the government doesn’t force them to.

“If you’re a good worker, your boss will give you sick time,” Egenton said.

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