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In 2010, New Jersey lawmakers wanted to put a stop to the six-figure payouts police officers and other public employees could get by cashing in their unused sick days at retirement. They capped the sellbacks at $15,000 for anyone hired after the law took effect.
Six years later, Vernon Township, a small town in northern New Jersey, changed its police contract to allow officers to cash in their sick days annually, in addition to at retirement. Over the years 2017 and 2018, officers hired after the 2010 law took effect were paid more than $13,000, according to town payroll records.
Vernon is one of 25 towns identified by the Asbury Park Press and ProPublica as having made payments for unused sick time to officers covered by the 2010 law, totaling more than $460,000 between 2017 and 2019. Now, New Jersey’s acting state comptroller has deemed those types of payments illegal. In some cases, the officers might need to pay that money back.