NJ employers can't fire employees for time off in connection with COVID-19

On March 20, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Assembly Bill No. A3848 prohibiting employers from terminating, demoting, or otherwise penalizing an employee for requesting or taking time off from work in connection with an infectious disease during the public health emergency and state of emergency declared in the governor's Executive Order 103.

Time off

The employee's request for time off should be triggered by a written or electronically transmitted recommendation of a medical professional licensed to practice in New Jersey. In addition, a medical professional may recommend the employee take time off, not only because she has been diagnosed with an infectious disease but also if she is "likely to have" an infectious disease prone to infect others in the workplace.

This provision of the new law is particularly broad because it protects not only employees diagnosed with COVID-19 but also those who have been exposed to the virus, regardless of whether they have tested positive.

Infectious disease defined

The new law defines infectious disease as "a disease caused by a living organism or other pathogen, including a fungus, bacteria, parasite, protozoan, virus or prion. An infectious disease may, or may not, be transmissible from person to person, animal to person, or insect to person."

To further prove its wide-ranging applicability, the law isn't limited to COVID-19-related absences from work but rather all infectious diseases as described above.

Penalties