Trenton – Senate President Steve Sweeney issued the following statement today praising the collaboration between the Senate, Assembly and Governor’s Office to expand the scope of New Jersey’s Paid Family Leave Program in response to the coronavirus pandemic:
“When I led the effort for New Jersey to create Paid Family Leave, I never imagined that we would be confronted with a crisis of the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic. It is creating health care challenges with economic consequences that will likely become worse.
“We have a family leave program in place that is capable of providing support up to 85 percent of wages with a cap of $859 and soon, with the enactment of S-2304, it will be available for people who have to self-quarantine or to care for loved ones. This will allow those who have not become unemployed but are still confronted with financial difficulties to continue to collect a paycheck, and allow businesses that have been forced to close to keep their workers on the payroll.
“While this legislation was introduced after the Assembly voting session, I am grateful they were willing to reconvene for the first ever remote voting session to send this important measure to the Governor.
“We must work together to be resourceful, responsive and proactive at a time when so many people are experiencing or will soon be experiencing severe problems due to the pandemic.”