Bill Text: NJ S3520 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires employer to provide one additional paid sick day per benefit year to paid first responders for healthcare diagnostic testing.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-28 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee [S3520 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-S3520-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Requires employer to provide one additional paid sick day per benefit year to paid first responders for healthcare diagnostic testing.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning first responders and certain benefits and supplementing Title 34 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. There is growing concern across the State that emergency services organizations are unable to recruit an adequate number of first responders to meet the community's needs.
b. First responders are crucial for maintaining the safety and well-being of our communities.
c. Accordingly, it is imperative to find solutions for recruiting first responders, which should include requiring employers to provide additional support to employees who serve as first responders.
d. Ensuring that first responders who may have been exposed to hazardous conditions as a consequence of their service have adequate time to undergo any recommended healthcare diagnostic testing will encourage recruitment and retention by allowing first responders to serve their communities safely and effectively.
e. Therefore, the Legislature finds that it is in the public interest to require an additional day of sick leave to any employee who is a first responder.
2. a. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Employee" means a first responder holding a position of paid employment with an employer.
"Employer" means an entity that employs paid first responders.
"First responder" means a law enforcement officer; paid firefighter; paid member of a duly incorporated first aid, emergency, ambulance, or rescue squad association; paid emergency medical technician; or paid paramedic.
"Healthcare diagnostic testing" means medical tests or procedures recommended by a healthcare provider to prevent or diagnose a condition that may relate to the employee's duties as a first responder as determined by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development pursuant to subsection c. of this section.
"Law enforcement officer" means a person employed as a permanent full-time member of any federal, State, county or municipal law enforcement agency, department, or division of those governments who is statutorily empowered to act for the detection, investigation, arrest, conviction, detention, or rehabilitation of persons violating the criminal laws of this State or of the United States and statutorily required to successfully complete a training course approved by the Police Training Commission pursuant to P.L.1961, c.56 (C.52:17B-66 et seq.), or certified by the commission as being substantially equivalent to an approved course.
b. An employer shall grant a first responder an additional sick leave credit of one working day annually, following completion of the person's first calendar year of service, for healthcare diagnostic testing.
c. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation as necessary with any State agencies or county or municipal employers, shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act, " P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that paid first responders be provided with one additional paid sick day per benefit year for healthcare diagnostic testing. The bill defines "first responder" to mean any paid law enforcement officer; paid firefighter; paid member of a duly incorporated first aid, emergency, ambulance, or rescue squad association; paid emergency medical technician; or paid paramedic. In addition, the bill defines "healthcare diagnostic testing" to mean medical tests or procedures recommended by a healthcare provider to prevent or diagnose a condition that may relate to the employee's duties as a first responder as determined by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development (commissioner).
The bill requires the commissioner, in consultation as necessary with any State, county, or municipal employers, to adopt rules and regulations necessary to implement the bill.
