HOBOKEN—A scheduled City Council vote on an ordinance that would have guaranteed employees at Hoboken businesses with 10 or more employees up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year was postponed on Wednesday. The ordinance’s sponsors say that paid sick leave will help workers deal with health problems and those of family members before they become serious and require emergency room visits. Similar bills have recently been passed in New York City, Jersey City, Newark, and other New Jersey cities.
However, many Hoboken businesspeople are against the ordinance, saying that it will force them to pay more for replacement employees and record-keeping, among other concerns. Hoboken’s proposed ordinance encountered strong resistance from the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce and the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce, which recently merged.
Hudson County Chamber President Maria Nieves sent a letter to the City Council, and the Chamber sought out business owners willing to speak against the bill.
However, the bill was carried to the Nov. 17 Council meeting at the request of its sponsors, Theresa Castellano and Beth Mason. In its stead, Castellano asked that a resolution be drawn up in support of ongoing consideration of a sick leave law in the state legislature.
Nieves believes the collaborative efforts of local businesspeople played a role in the about-face. “These groups weighed in collectively as did individual business owners, and my sense is it made a difference,” she wrote in an email, in reference to the Chambers and the Hoboken Hospitality Association. “This is likely the first time in a long time there’s been a coalition effort among business groups.”
However, other issues may have been behind the decision to pull the ordinance. According to Councilman-at-Large Jim Doyle, Hoboken Corporation Counsel Mellissa Longo had sent a letter to the ordinance’s sponsors warning that parts of it might not be enforceable as written due to vague language. For example, the ordinance did not make clear whether the 10 employee threshold applied to all employees of a company worldwide or just those employees based in Hoboken.
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