State Report On Sick Leave Payouts 'Inaccurate,' Brick Mayor Says

BRICK, NJ — Assertions in a state report that Brick Township is allowing its employees to take unlimited payouts for unused leave were labeled "inaccurate" and "disingenuous" by Mayor John G. Ducey on Thursday.

The state Commission of Investigation criticized Brick and several other towns in a report issued Wednesday that looked at compensation for unused sick leave and vacation time among public employees in 50 towns and other entities.

The report says abuses of sick leave payouts, which were capped at $15,000 in 2010, have continued in a number of towns, but didn't provide details for all of the entities it examined.

Brick Township, however, was one of a handful of towns singled out in the report, which said the town paid $6.6 million in accumulated sick and vacation leave to 197 employees from 2011 to 2019, including annual payments for sick leave sold back to the town. Seven people received payouts of more than $100,000, and 50 received more than $50,ooo, the report said.

The report said "all municipal employees in Brick are eligible to cash in accumulated sick and vacation time on an annual basis. The number of days eligible for redemption and the dollar value paid for the earned time varies among different job titles."

"While the employment contracts for the township’s four collective bargaining units set the terms for unionized employees, municipal policy dictates the terms of the sell-backs for unclassified workers. Under that policy, unclassified workers may sell back up to a maximum of 35 days each year – including vacation time – for 50 percent of the monetary value of the leave time," the report said.

"Although the township adopted a policy to cap lump-sum payments for unused sick time at retirement at $7,500 per employee for those hired after 2005, the Commission found that local employees hired since then could easily surpass the limit by selling back time on an annual basis," the report said.

Ducey said that statement is inaccurate.

"The contract specifically states that any buyback is 'up to administration based on mutual agreements and availability of funds, ' " Ducey said. He said the town has not bought back sick leave for employees hired since 2005.

He said accumulated sick and vacation leave payments for employees hired before 2005 are required under contracts that were adopted for those workers, "that prior mayors and councils adopted most likely not realizing the financial impacts they have on us going forward."

Brick has had a number of employees retire who had 25 years of service, including several last year who would have been covered under the pre-2005 no-cap rules.

Ducey called the implication that Brick was skirting the sick leave cap "disingenuous and a clear attempt to sensationalize a topic that is dear to my heart, stabilizing property taxes."

"Instead of providing a report that is inaccurate and an obvious waste of taxpayer money, how about the State doing a study about how to reduce property taxes, or how to fully fund our schools, or how to return energy tax receipts to towns or how to make New Jersey affordable to the middle class.?" Ducey said.

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