New Jersey has a leave law called the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJ FLA), which provides unpaid job-protected leave for an employee’s parental, family care (including caring for a family member with a serious health condition or who is quarantining/isolating due to a public health emergency) or leave to care for a child due to the child’s school closure resulting from a public health emergency.

Additionally, New Jersey has a law called the New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (NJ FLI), which provides income replacement benefits for the same reasons as NJ FLA. New Jersey also has a law called the New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), which provides income replacement benefits when an employee requires leave for their own medical condition (including during a public health emergency if the employee requires time off work because they are diagnosed with or suspected of exposure to a communicable disease). These pay programs are in most cases administered by the Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance, though companies may establish a Private Plan, by either self-insuring the benefits (and administering the benefits directly), or by fully insuring the benefits through an insurance carrier. NJ TDI does not provide job protection. Thus, there is no specific leave of absence law in New Jersey that provides job protection for an employee’s own serious health condition.

Where an employee is eligible for each law, both NJ FLA and FLI and will generally run concurrently with federal FMLA.

Where an employee is eligible for NJ TDI and FMLA, these laws will generally run concurrently.

This resource section provides information on how the benefits are made available to employees, for example, are the state pay benefits provided directly by the state or are employers required to provide the benefit via an insurance carrier, and/or may employers self-insure the benefit. Additionally, how are benefits funded, via contributions made by the employee or employer, or both, as well as providing information on state wage reporting requirements if applicable. Many states paid family leave programs require that employers submit employee wage reports for employees within the state. These reports are primarily used to assess an employee’s eligibility when they file for benefits. 

The resource below also provides a summary of employer actions, including how to register with the state to remit contributions and submit wage reports if applicable, and by when contributions/wage reporting is due.

Some leave laws require that you notify your employees about their rights under the law, such as, by providing a prescribed notice to new hires, displaying a poster in the workplace, and/or including information about that leave law in your company handbook. Below you will find a summary of the requirements for each law.

Where the law requires that a leave poster/notice must be provided to the employee when they request leave, The Larkin Company will provide the applicable document within our introductory leave packets (see “Larkin Enclosures” within this resource).

Employers may be required to complete employer forms for certain state income replacement programs, so they must be prepared to look up employee information and respond within the given timelines. While the questions vary state by state, they are typically focused around four areas: leave dates, employment status, last day worked, and questions around pay. To answer these questions, employers typically look in multiple systems to complete the forms:

• Leave dates – clients can use our employer portal or email notifications to confirm dates;
• Demographics/employment status – this information is typically housed in our client’s HRIS;
• Last day worked – this information is typically housed in our client’s time & attendance system;
• Gross wages/last day paid – this information is typically housed in our client’s payroll system.

State Forms– Process

Since this process is complex, we thought it might be helpful for employers to know 1) when to expect the forms based on employees’ work state and 2) when proactive employee collaboration is required. The below information is for New Jersey.

Also included, is information regarding: if you are required to register with the state’s website for the Employer Statements Process, how to register (if applicable), and how employers can check and employee’s claims status (if allowed by the state).

State Website(s)

NJ Temporary Disability Insurance and Family Leave Insurance  – TDI and FLI (Pay Laws)
NJ Family Leave Act – NJ FLA (Leave Law)

State Law and Regulation(s)

NJ TDI and FLI Regulations
NJ FLA Statute
NJ FLA Regulations

Contribution Registration (Paid Leave)

Employer Guide
Registration
For general information regarding paid leave contributions/wage reporting for this state, please see here.

Employer Statement (Claim Process) Registration

NA – there is no employer registration/portal for the NJ claims process. For general information regarding the paid leave employer statement process for this state, please see here.