Family Leave Act Expansion Passes in NJ. How Does it Apply to You?

The morass of family leave laws just got more complicated.

Senate bill No. 2528 which was signed into law on Tuesday, Feb 19^th 2019, is a taxpayer-funded expansion to the already existing Family Leave Act (FLA) and Paid Family Leave Insurance (FLI). This bill allows New Jersyans to get benefits for up to 12 weeks if they are expecting a child or needing to take time off to care for a sick family member.

Employees will be eligible to receive benefits if they pay into the program on their payroll, have worked at least 20 weeks with an income of at least $172 weekly, or have earned at least $8,600 in the last 12 months. The new law expands the wage deduction cap from $34,400 to $131,000, thereby reducing employee take home pay beyond the current cap, however, wage reimbursement will increase to 85% of wages, up to $860 per week.  Also, the period of reimbursement will expand from 6 weeks to 12 weeks.

Effective June 3, employers with more than 30 employees will have to restore employees to their prior position. This is a major change to existing law, which only provided such protections to employee who worked for employers with more than 50 employees.

Any questions about this and other employment laws in New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania, please give us a call! Talk to one of our experienced attorneys today.