Friday, July 19, 2013

The New Jersey Security And Financial Empowerment Act (A-2919 or “the SAFE Act”), which becomes effective November 1, 2013, provides employees who suffer from an incident of domestic violence or sexually violent offense (as defined by N.J.S.A. 2C:25-19 and 30:4-27.6) with up to 20 days of unpaid leave to seek treatment or engage in other activity relating to the offense.

Leave under the SAFE Act will allow the employee to seek medical attention for physical or psychological injuries, obtain services from a victim services organization, obtain counseling, participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocating, deal with legal matters relating to the incident, or engage in other related activities to cope and rehabilitate from the event.

New Jersey now joins eleven (11) other states in enacting legislation to provide time off from work for employees who suffer incidents of domestic violence or sexual abuse. The Act also covers employees who are close family members of victims of domestic violence and sexually violent offenses. The Act defines close family members as a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or civil union partner.

The Act allows covered employees to take 20 additional days of unpaid leave in addition to any leave that they may already be entitled to under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA) or the New Jersey Family Leave Act (“FLA”). However, if the request for leave due to domestic violence or sexually violent offense would also be covered under the FMLA or FLA, the leaves will run concurrently. An employee who takes leave under the SAFE Act must do so within one (1) year of the incident of domestic violence or sexually violent offense. However, as with leave under the FLA and FMLA, the employee can choose to take leave intermittently.

The SAFE Act applies to all employers with more than twenty-five (25) employees. These employers should be aware of the Act and its provisions, and be sure to modify their existing policies and handbooks to comply with the Act. Please contact us for more information or assistance.