New Jersey Construction Suppliers Beware: You Must Comply with the Earned Sick Leave Act

A recently-published New Jersey Appellate Division decision (Cano v. County Concrete Corp., A-0056-24 (N.J. App. Div. Jan. 28, 2026)) determined that the New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law (“ESLL”) applies to suppliers in the construction industry – despite an exemption under the law otherwise applicable to certain builders.

In Cano, the Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s $1 million-plus award (inclusive of treble damages) entered against defendant County Concrete Corp. – a supplier of sand, gravel and redi-mix concrete – in response to claims brought by several employees who asserted they were owed unpaid sick days under the ESLL. The ESLL, enacted in 2018, requires New Jersey employers to provide employees with up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year for an employee to care for themself or a family member for physical or mental illness or injury, cope with domestic/sexual violence, receive wellness care, or attend certain child school-related activities. Under the ESLL, an exemption applies for employers with employees “performing service in the construction industry … under contract pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement.” 

Notwithstanding that statutory language, the Cano Court determined that while the ESLL’s exemption applies to construction builders and contractors with employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement, it did not also apply to the manufacturers supplying materials to those builders and contractors. In addition to the legislative intent behind the statute, the Court also looked to the North American Industry Classification System (“NAICS”) for further support. The NAICS has separate and distinct sector codes for manufacturing and for construction – and specifically, the code for a redi-mix concrete company (like County Concrete Corp.) is within the manufacturing sector, which is in a different category from construction.

Examining the defendant’s paid leave policy itself, the Court determined that while the employer allowed paid leave for vacation, bereavement and holidays under a collective bargaining agreement, that policy was too restrictive, not allowing paid leave for all purposes required by the ESLL. Nor did the defendant’s policy allow for the accrual of hours as required by the ESLL – that is, one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. The defendant further left requests for leave to the discretion of management – and sometimes denied leave when otherwise required to be granted by the ESLL. The defendant was found to have violated the ESLL for these and various other technical reasons.

All New Jersey employers should ensure they are compliant with the ESLL, or alternatively, understand if they may be subject to one of the very limited exemptions from the law. As it did for the defendant in Cano, a violation could prove extremely costly.