TRENTON — The Republican leader in the New Jersey Senate wants to see another vote on a measure to end huge payouts for unused sick days by retiring public employees. Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. sent a letter to Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney asking that the legislation be posted next Monday, the last scheduled voting session until...
N.J. State Senator Tom Kean Jr. in this 2010 file photo. Kean is pushing for another vote on ending payouts to state public employees for unused sick days.TRENTON — The Republican leader in the New Jersey Senate wants to see another vote on a measure to end huge payouts for unused sick days by retiring public employees.
Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. sent a letter to Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney asking that the legislation be posted next Monday, the last scheduled voting session until June.
Republicans and Democrats agree that cash-outs that can total hundreds of thousands of dollars strain local budgets. They differ on how to best fix the problem.
Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed a bipartisan bill in December that capped the amount of accumulated sick leave employees can cash out.
Christie wants to phase out the payouts. His bill would force current employees to draw future sick time from their accumulated bank of days and would bar new workers from collecting the perk.
Democrat Sen. Paul Sarlo's bill limits the payouts to $15,000 and honors existing collective bargaining agreements.
Contacted today after Kean's letter, Sarlo said the two sides weren't too far apart, and that it was possible for a compromise to be reached.
A report in The Press of Atlantic City showed that all $2.2 million saved from layoffs of 60 police officers and 30 firefighters last year went toward offsetting terminal leave payments to veteran police and fire employees.
Kean said one Atlantic City employee recently retired with an extra $300,000 in unused sick time, which the senator said was "akin to hitting the jackpot on the taxpayers' dime."