Yes, Tom Kean Jr. is on paid medical leave. NJ pols get these benefits

Elected officials in New Jersey work for the residents they represent. They are sent to Washington or Trenton or their local town hall to conduct the business of their constituents.

But when they get to those destinations, are their jobs full time? With health insurance and pensions and all the other things that people expect from their 9 to 5 career?

Is Tom Kean Jr. on paid medical leave?

Those questions may be on the minds of some Garden State residents — namely voters in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. has been absent from his duties in the capital for nearly three months.

For higher office, like the president and members of Congress, the answer to those questions is yes. Salaries range from about $174,000 for lower ranking members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to $400,000 for whomever is occupying in the Oval Office.

Presidents receive around-the-clock access to health care and a pension upon leaving office. Members of Congress pay for health insurance through the Small Business Health Options Program, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. They also pay into a pension system known as the Federal Employees' Retirement System.

Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said that “every absence is paid leave for an elected official.

“They occupy a very unusual place when it comes to their employment and compensation — they work for their constituents, and they answer to their constituents, but no one is punching a clock or submitting a timesheet,” he said.

So Kean Jr. — who has said he's been absent from Washington because he is dealing with a personal medical issue but is “expected to be totally fine” — has health insurance that comes out of his paycheck to cover it but doesn’t necessarily need to use sick days for the time he’s not working.

While there are local offices that might be declared vacant after a certain amount of absences, that’s not the case for state and federal lawmakers, Rasmussen said.

“This is not something that pertains to a federal or state legislator, who would need to be expelled from the body, which is extremely unlikely,” he said. “Essentially, a legislator is only answerable to the voters who elected him in the next election.”

Kean, who has represented the 7th Congressional District for two terms, told the New Jersey Globe on May 21 that he expects to return to work — and the campaign trail — soon.

What about Rep. LaMonica McIver?

It’s the same situation for U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who announced in May that she is pregnant with her second child.

“This moment is filled with so much joy for my family and me,” she said in a statement. “Being a mom is one of the greatest joys of my life, and I am grateful that my family is growing.”

McIver already has a 9-year-old daughter. McIver is one of a small group of women serving in Congress with school-aged children and will be one of only a handful who have given birth while holding congressional office.

Rasmussen said there is “no formal maternity leave for members of Congress.”

“Members take time away without losing pay,” he said. “But they cannot cast votes remotely after the birth of a child, in spite of a vote by a majority of the House in April 2025 to allow proxy voting.”

He said that House Republicans — including Kean — killed that measure in a party-line vote.  

On the state level, the governor is a full-time worker. Gov. Mikie Sherrill earns $210,000, but the Legislature is considered part time. All 120 members of the two chambers earn $82,000, with leadership getting a bonus of about $27,000 each year.

There are few full-time mayors throughout the state — mostly in larger cities like Newark and Paterson.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: [email protected]