According to USAToday, Jersey City Mayor, Steven Fulop said, ""You have a lot of working single parents (in Jersey City), and it's an issue I've believed in for a long time. This is a big deal. You have to give people an opportunity to be productive in the workforce without choosing between their families and their employer."

Undoubtedly, many employees agree with the lawmakers who have made these important changes. However, experts agree that this will most likely result in employees taking quite a few more sick days each year, which can put a strain on individual employers in more ways than one. Especially when it comes to tracking time off and absence management. The article goes on to discuss how various business groups are very concerned about the changes in the laws, and they believe these changes might result in a decrease in employee productivity, as well as an increase in costs.

Many employers, especially those with smaller numbe

rs of employees, still use the "old fashioned" way of keeping track of their employees' time off and sick time. These pen and paper records will certainly get more difficult to maintain as time goes on. In fact, if mistakes are made, not catching them in time could result in many problems for employers. First, poor compliance with these new laws might lead to hefty fines. Second, employees can file claim with labor boards they were denied the sick time or other leave that they were owed.

With these laws in place, the employer's only defense in these situations is that leave accruals and leave taken is well-documented, that is, the employee's certification that he took leave is bulletproof. 

Employers will benefit most from using time off and absence management software to keep accurate records of their employees' time off. The right software should track leave accruals by date, ensure that employees can track their accruals and balances over time. In addition, the right time off and absence management software would track employee leave requests and employee leave taken employee records, when they were requested, who approved the leave, and when it was taken by an employee. These new laws might not make life easier for employers, but the right time off and absence management software can help employers easily produce data showing when employees took their leave and a detailed accounting accruals and balances over time. Read our  on the costs of poor time off management and best practices that will help you succeed.