Westfield Cited For Unlawful Sick Leave Payouts, Town Denies Violations

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield is rejecting a report from the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller that states that the town has violated state laws on sick time compensation.

After reviewing 60 towns, the Office of the State Comptroller found that nearly all of them, including Westfield, continued to make large annual payments to public workers for accrued sick time. According to the report, Westfield had five contracts that did not comply with state law.

In 2007 and 2010, the New Jersey Legislature passed laws limiting when sick leave payments may be made, how much can be paid and to which employees. Their goal was to lower property taxes by prohibiting extra payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to a single public employee.

Under the current rules:

• All employees hired after May 2010 can't receive more than $15,000 for their unused sick leave.
• Employees can only receive that $15,000 at retirement – not when they resign, change jobs, or as an annual payout.
• In addition, after 2007, certain senior local government employees cannot receive more than $15,000 for their unused sick leave.

The Comptroller's report states that Westfield's five contracts do not comply with the 2007 or 2010 state laws because there is no cap on the amount of sick leave paid to employees and non-union employees hired after May 21, 2010.

All contracts cap the payment to 90 sick days, paid at 33 percent value. However, Westfield’s Personnel Manual limits non-union employees to 105 sick days paid at 33 percent value to be paid at retirement only “less any terms and conditions as may be set forth by state statute.”

Westfield spokesperson Kim Forde released the following statement from the town:

"The Town of Westfield has not violated the law with respect to any sick leave payouts. In fact, for many years, Westfield has had caps on the amount of sick leave that can be paid out at retirement. Westfield was among 60 municipalities randomly chosen by the OSC for this survey. It is important to note that the basis for finding that the terms in our manual and the contracts “do not comply” with the law is simply the fact that the language does not explicitly distinguish between those employees hired after May 21, 2010, who are covered by the statutory restrictions, and those hired before that date, who are not covered by the statutory restrictions — even though our current language automatically applies the requirements of any State statute."

Based on the conclusions of the Comptroller report, Forde said the town will need to amend language in the Personnel Manual and in some of our labor contracts, which will be brought before the Town Council in the near term.

The comptroller's report further states that two of Westfield's union contracts allow for payment of accrued sick time at "honorable discharge" — not just retirement. Again, this does not comply with the state's 2010 law, according to the report.

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