So Nice of Tom Kean to Take 4 Months of Paid Sick Leave After Voting Against Paid Sick Leave!

After vanishing for more than 100 days straight, Rep Tom Kean Jr. (R-New Jersey) returned to Congress on Tuesday to say his prolonged absence was because of a “diagnosis of depression.” (Welp. There go the Rapture theories.) “Many people think it is feeling sad, it is so much more than that,” he said during his five-minute speech on the House floor. “Until you experience it yourself, it is hard to understand ‘how powerful this illness could be.’” 

Well, I assume that until you experience it yourself, it’s also hard to understand how valuable paid sick leave can be! But Kean wouldn’t know anything about that, since during his time in the New Jersey Senate, he repeatedly voted against sickness benefits for his constituents. 

Setting aside the fact that his entire absence was taxpayer-funded, as a state Senator, Kean opposed paid sick leave—voting against N.J. Bill A1827, which guaranteed five paid sick leave days for the state’s workers; the state’s No Surprise Medical Bills Act; and two other paid family leave laws from 2008 and 2018.

News of Kean’s disappearance began in April, when Politico reported that the congressman had missed more than 50 roll-call votes, his GOP state contemporaries said they hadn’t heard from him, and his neighbors said his house looked empty. Things got even more bizarre when his wife was spotted by a reporter in their family home a few months later and scuttled away when asked about her husband’s whereabouts. She eventually also vanished, along with her car in the driveway and their family dog. Amid a rising cacophony of questions asking where on earth the congressman could have gone, his spokespeople emphasized that he was undergoing “care” for some “undisclosed health condition.”

I’m just going to point out that @CongressmanKean took approximately 644 hours of paid sick leave. He voted against giving his constituents 40. https://t.co/tmwLmDf0Gf

— Lizzie K. Foley (@LizzieKFoley) June 30, 2026

 

By his return on Tuesday, Kean had missed 100 votes, won an uncontested primary for his district seat, and throughout it all… received his full salary. 

“He’s been able to rely on things he directly voted against,” Yarrow Willman-Cole, Workplace Justice Program Director at New Jersey Citizen Action, told Mother Jones. “You want your lawmakers to really be connected to their constituents and understand what their constituents need, and this disconnect with a lawmaker clearly not representing the needs of the average worker, the average family, is a problem. That’s not what government should be like.” 

Other people were also unhappy with Kean’s reasons for his return. Speaking to TMZ on the steps of the Capitol, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said the reason he gave was “embarrassing.” “Sure, take care of yourself, get healthy, but who gets to take four months off of work because they’re sad?” “Depressed,” she then corrected herself. 

Come November, Kean will be facing Dem. challenger Rebecca Bennett for his 7th District seat—a race called a “toss-up.” Your move, New Jersey.