New Jersey's Paid Sick Leave Act has now come into effect, making it the “broadest and strongest” law of its kind in the US, according to local officials.
Under the terms of the Act, employers will be required to provide staff with a maximum of five paid sick days per year, with penalties for those that fail to comply. Both part-time and full-time employees will also be able to earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours they work.
But some business owners have complained that their payroll staff have not had enough time to prepare for the new legislation. Theresa Belles, owner of Bliss Hair Studio by Teri, attested to New Jersey News: "It encompasses part-time and full-time employees, and it's not just a paid sick leave. It's more like a paid time-off law.
Meanwhile, British American Tobacco (BAT) has promised to provide new parents among its global workforce with a set of benefits that include a minimum of 16 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave.
The firm, which employs more than 55,000 people in 180 countries, will introduce the benefit to new mothers and adoptive parents from 1 January 2019, supplementing statutory pay where necessary. The new benefit will go beyond local requirements for 20,000 employees in 26 countries, according to Employee Benefits.
Through a new return-to-work guarantee, all new mothers on maternity leave and parents on adoption leave for 12 months or less will be able to go back to their previous job or a suitable alternative wherever reasonably practicable.
They will also have the opportunity to request flexible working arrangements after returning to work during the first year of the child’s birth or arrival. Depending on their role and location, this could mean one or more days off per working week, reduced working hours or the flexibility to work from home.
Nicandro Durante, chief executive at BAT, said: "We want to ensure no one at BAT has to choose between their career and their family, and that’s why this will be available to colleagues all over the world. We are proud to be offering this new range of parental benefits on a global scale and we are looking forward to seeing the changes this will hopefully make to the lives of both our current and future employees."
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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New Jersey's Paid Sick Leave Act has now come into effect, making it the “broadest and strongest” law of its kind in the US, according to local officials.
Under the terms of the Act, employers will be required to provide staff with a maximum of five paid sick days per year, with penalties for those that fail to comply. Both part-time and full-time employees will also be able to earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours they work.
But some business owners have complained that their payroll staff have not had enough time to prepare for the new legislation. Theresa Belles, owner of Bliss Hair Studio by Teri, attested to New Jersey News: "It encompasses part-time and full-time employees, and it's not just a paid sick leave. It's more like a paid time-off law.
Meanwhile, British American Tobacco (BAT) has promised to provide new parents among its global workforce with a set of benefits that include a minimum of 16 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave.
The firm, which employs more than 55,000 people in 180 countries, will introduce the benefit to new mothers and adoptive parents from 1 January 2019, supplementing statutory pay where necessary. The new benefit will go beyond local requirements for 20,000 employees in 26 countries, according to Employee Benefits.
Through a new return-to-work guarantee, all new mothers on maternity leave and parents on adoption leave for 12 months or less will be able to go back to their previous job or a suitable alternative wherever reasonably practicable.
They will also have the opportunity to request flexible working arrangements after returning to work during the first year of the child’s birth or arrival. Depending on their role and location, this could mean one or more days off per working week, reduced working hours or the flexibility to work from home.
Nicandro Durante, chief executive at BAT, said: "We want to ensure no one at BAT has to choose between their career and their family, and that’s why this will be available to colleagues all over the world. We are proud to be offering this new range of parental benefits on a global scale and we are looking forward to seeing the changes this will hopefully make to the lives of both our current and future employees."
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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