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N.J. workers at small companies could soon get new family leave protections

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N.J. workers at small companies could soon get new family leave protections


From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

Under current law, New Jersey employees can take up to 12 weeks of time off to bond with a newborn baby, adopt or foster a child or care for a sick relative. The Family Leave Act guarantees employees job safety, as long as there are at least 30 employees in the workplace.

The Assembly on Monday will consider expanding the law to include smaller companies and establishments. If approved, the measure will guarantee employment reinstatement for workers taking family leave in companies with 20 or more employees. One year later, the employment reinstatement guarantee would extend to companies with 10 or more workers, and 12 months after that the threshold would be reduced again, to 5 employees.

New Jersey’s largest business group is not thrilled.

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Elissa Frank, vice president of government affairs at the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the law would be especially detrimental for mom-and-pop businesses.

“Putting a mandate on them to hold that job open when the person is out on leave makes it just unmanageable,” she said.

She said if an employee goes out on family leave and a temporary worker becomes a good fit for the role, and the company wants to retain them permanently, they won’t be able to under the new update.

Eric Richard, the legislative director for the New Jersey AFL-CIO, said modifying the Family Leave Act to cover employees in smaller companies is a matter of fairness.

“Every employee pays for this benefit, there’s a payroll deduction that comes out of every worker’s paycheck that funds the paid family leave program,” he said.

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Richard said it makes no sense that approximately 1.5 million workers in smaller companies in the Garden State are afraid to take advantage of family leave “because they have no job protection, employers are allowed to fire those people.”



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New Jersey

Police arrest four Philly men suspected of running a food theft ring along the New Jersey Turnpike

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Police arrest four Philly men suspected of running a food theft ring along the New Jersey Turnpike


Four men have been charged in connection with a food theft ring that targeted cargo trucks along the New Jersey Turnpike.

New Jersey State Police said Monday the suspects, all from Philadelphia, were apprehended in the middle of another break-in. Shaun Coleman, 23, Salahudin Reddy, 37, Hanif Tucker, 31, and Rashan Clark-Reddy, 26, face multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal mischief, burglary and possession of stolen goods. Law enforcement said they are connected to numerous thefts over the past three years in the area, involving items worth millions of dollars.


MORE: Demolition work begins on Frankford buildings that caught fire last week


Police said the arrests followed a two-month investigation nicknamed “Operation Beef Bandit.” Officers had been searching for the crew responsible for a string of burglaries at service areas off the New Jersey Turnpike, all nine of which involved the theft of meat, alcohol, seafood and other high-value items from parked trailers. In many cases, the vehicles were occupied.

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Early Friday morning, state troopers noticed two suspicious vehicles enter the Molly Pitcher Service Area off the turnpike, authorities said. Four suspects exited and attempted to steal boxes of meat from a tractor trailer parked in the lot. Police quickly caught Tucker and, after a brief foot chase, Coleman. But Reddy and Clark-Reddy fled in a stolen vehicle, crashing into an occupied, unmarked police car and two marked police vehicles in their escape attempt. Police pursued and apprehended the pair, with three state troopers sustaining minor injuries. One officer was treated at a hospital and later released.

Sgt. Charles Marchan could not say if the suspects were connected to the recent cargo thefts in South Philadelphia. In August, thieves swiped about 350-400 pounds of tuna from a refrigerated trailer truck at Samuels Seafood Co. In September, six men in masks stole another three pallets of seafood from Seventh Street and Packer Avenue. Police also reported cargo thefts of snow crab, beef, salmon and bourbon in the city earlier in the summer and spring.

While Marchan acknowledged that the “same MO” appears in numerous cargo thefts across the region, he stressed that the investigation is still ongoing. New Jersey State Police is soliciting tips regarding these crimes at 732-522-4295, extension 3226. All four suspects have been taken to Middlesex County Jail, where they await bail detention hearings. 


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New Jersey

Woman killed in early morning house fire in Haddonfield, NJ

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Woman killed in early morning house fire in Haddonfield, NJ


Fire officials in New Jersey said a woman has died after she was pilled from an early morning house fire in Haddonfield, NJ.

According to fire officials, firefighters pulled the woman from a home along the 400 block of Walnut Street in Haddonfield, NJ, at about 7 a.m. on Monday.

Here, officials said, a kitchen fire filled the home with smoke and fire crews pulled a woman from the home. first responders attempted life-saving efforts, however, a fire official said the woman died.

As of about 8:30 a.m. on Monday, officials provided no further information on the identity of the person who perished in this incident.

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Officials said an investigation into this fire is ongoing and an update on this incident is expected sometime Monday morning.

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.



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New Jersey

Motorcyclist killed after colliding with other riders on Turnpike

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Motorcyclist killed after colliding with other riders on Turnpike


A Willow Grove, Pennsylvania man died Saturday when his motorcycle crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike in Mercer County, the New Jersey State Police said.

Jeffrey Ford, 42, was riding in a group of motorcyclists when multiple collisions occurred among them at about 3:50 p.m. and his Kawasaki motorcycle overturned, ejecting him, police said. The crash occurred on the outer, northbound lanes at milepost 61.7 in Robbinsville.

The incident remained under investigation Sunday, the State Police said.



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