August 17, 2026

New Jersey Expands Family Leave and Job Protections

As of July 17, 2026, more New Jersey employers must provide family leave to their employees, and more New Jersey employees on disability or family leave are entitled to job protection.

New Jersey significantly expanded its Family Leave Act in two ways:

• Employers with 15 or more employees must provide job-protected leave to eligible employees.
  
  
• Employees become eligible after just 3 months of employment and 250 hours worked during the 12 months preceding the leave. 

Previously, the Act applied only to employers with 30 or more employees and to employees who, after 12 months of employment, worked 1,000 hours during the 12 months preceding the leave.

New Jersey also significantly expanded employees’ rights to job-protection:

• Employees receiving Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefits or Family Leave Insurance (FLI) benefits have the right to return to their job after their family or medical leave ends.
  
  
• This new rule applies even if the employee would not be eligible for job protection under the NJ Family Leave Act or federal Family and Medical Leave Act. 

Eligibility for TDI and FLI is based on an employee’s earnings in New Jersey, not the size of the employer or the employee’s length of service. 

If you have questions about disability leave or family leave in New Jersey or New York, please contact any Book Law attorney or Sheryl Galler at sgaller@booklawllp.com.