5 Things to Know About the NJ Family Leave Act
Nov 30, 2021
The New Jersey Family Leave Act is important legislation for residents of our state. Here are 5 things to know about the law:
- It provides 12 weeks of leave in a 24-month period. You can take all 12 weeks at once, or intermittently. It may even be possible to take the 12 weeks in the form of a reduced schedule.
Most types of employees in New Jersey are eligible. Eligibility factors include:
- If you work for any state or local government agency
- Or if you work for a company with 30 or more employees (employees could be located anywhere in the world, not only New Jersey
- You have worked there for at least 1 year, and have worked at least 1,000 hours in the last 12 months
- Leave includes care of family members as well as people who are “equivalent” to family members. You are eligible to take leave to care for parents, your spouse, children, siblings, parents-in-law, grandparents, and others.
- It does not require the employer to pay you while you are on leave. The NJFLA does allow you to take qualifying leave without losing your job. Your employer may provide some form of paid leave of their own volition, and you may qualify for payments under the New Jersey Paid Family Leave Insurance law or other relevant statutes.
- It does not include leaving for your own personal health problem. While at first this seems like a bad thing, it’s actually often a good thing. It means that if you need to take leave for your own health, then you can turn to federal family leave and still have your New Jersey leave reserved for future use. Because of the way FMLA works, you would not be able to use the 12 weeks from the FMLA and then use the 12 weeks from New Jersey law.