Bill Text: NJ S2736 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires full pay for certain health care and public safety workers placed in isolation or quarantine.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-11-03 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee [S2736 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S2736-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires full pay for certain health care and public safety workers placed in isolation or quarantine.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring full pay for certain health care and public safety workers that are unable to work under certain circumstances and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
"Employer" means any employer or employer's agent, representative, or designee. The term "employer" includes the State, any of its instrumentalities, and any political subdivision of the State and instrumentalities thereof.
"First responder" means any police officer, firefighter, or other person trained to provide emergency medical first response services or other medical services who is employed by a public safety agency.
"Health care facility" means a health care facility licensed by the Department of Health pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), a State or county psychiatric hospital, a State developmental center, or a health care service firm registered by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety pursuant to P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.).
"Health care worker" means any person who is employed by a health care facility and who has the potential for occupational exposure to contagious diseases during the course of their employment with the health care facility.
"Isolation" means the physical separation and confinement of an individual or groups of individuals who are infected or reasonably believed to be infected, on the basis of signs, symptoms or laboratory analysis, with a contagious or possibly contagious disease from non-isolated individuals, to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease to non-isolated individuals.
"Public safety agency" means a division of a municipality, a county, or the State, which dispatches or provides law enforcement, fire fighting, emergency medical services, or other emergency services.
"Quarantine" means the physical separation and confinement of an individual or groups of individuals, who are or may have been exposed to a contagious or possibly contagious disease and who do not show signs or symptoms of a contagious disease, from non-quarantined individuals, to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease to non-quarantined individuals.
2. a. A health care worker or first responder that is placed in isolation or quarantine and unable to work shall be paid the health care worker's or first responder's regular compensation for the entire period of time that the employee is held in isolation or quarantine.
b. No employer shall discharge from employment or take any adverse action against any health care worker or first responder with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or other privileges of employment because the health care worker or first responder is not actively working and performing all regular duties due to the fact that the health care worker or first responder is placed in isolation or quarantine. Notwithstanding any State law or regulation to the contrary, no employer shall require a health care worker or first responder to use any sick, personal, or other leave provided by the employer, whether paid or unpaid, for any time that the health care worker or first responder is unable to work due to the isolation or quarantine.
3. An employer who violates any provision of this act shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation, collectible by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.).
4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to health care workers or first responders placed in isolation or quarantine after the effective date of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires an employer to pay a health care worker or first responder regular compensation for any period of time that the health care worker or first responder is placed in isolation or quarantine and unable to work. The bill prohibits an employer from terminating the employment of a health care worker or first responder, or taking any adverse action against a health care worker or first responder with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or other privileges of employment because the health care worker or first responder is not actively working and performing all regular duties due to the isolation or quarantine. The bill provides that, notwithstanding any State law or regulation to the contrary, no employer shall require a health care worker or first responder to use any sick, personal, or other leave provided by the employer, whether paid or unpaid, for any time that the health care worker or first responder is unable to work due to the isolation or quarantine.
The bill also provides that an employer who violates the provisions of this bill is subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation, collectible by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development. The provisions of the bill will apply only to health care workers or first responders placed in isolation or quarantine after the effective date of the bill.
The bill defines "health care worker" as any person who is employed by a health care facility and who has the potential for occupational exposure to contagious diseases during the course of employment with the health care facility. "First responder" is defined as any police officer, firefighter, or other person trained to provide emergency medical first response services, or other medical services, who is employed by a public safety agency.
