By: HUB's Absence Management Team

The state of New Jersey has expanded its state leave programs to meet the needs of workers in the Garden State. This includes changes to the NJ Family Leave Act (FLA), NJ Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) and New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (FLI).

NJ TDI/FLI Updates: The state has updated its wage replacement programs to include language guaranteeing employees an equivalent position of like seniority, status, employment benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment when they return from leave.

Leave Stacking: Upon request, employees can stack their state-provided leave programs, including earned sick leave, as long as they are not receiving more than 100% of their pre-leave earnings. This follows a trend we are seeing in other statutory states, where employees can choose when to use the state's statutory programs.

For example, a NJ worker needing maternity leave could elect to use NJ FLA later, extending their job-protected leave by another 12 weeks.

NJ FLA Eligibility Rules: The employer coverage threshold is dropping significantly, bringing more employers under NJ FLA requirements:

  • 15+ employees after the law takes effect on July 17, 2026
  • 10+ employees — July 17, 2027
  • 5+ employees — July 17, 2028

The eligibility threshold for NJ FLA job-protected leave is dropping significantly. Employees will now qualify after just three months of employment and 250 hours worked, compared to the previous requirement of 12 months and 1,000 hours. This means more employees will have access to job-protected leave sooner.

Employer Next Steps

  • Review your policies to ensure they address these changes.
  • Run an employee census for your New Jersey locations to determine which changes apply to your organization.
  • Train managers and leaders who oversee NJ employees on the duration changes. Because leaves can be stacked using NJ TDI, NJ FLI and/or NJ FLA, leave requests may be longer than expected.
  • Watch for additional guidance from the state on how the changes may affect existing leaves of absence.

Resources:

If you have any questions, please contact your HUB Advisor. We will continue to monitor and provide updates as more information becomes available. View more updates in our Bulletins page.

NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER

Neither HUB International Limited nor any of its affiliated companies is a law or accounting firm, and therefore, they cannot provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is provided for general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or tax advice as to an organization’s specific circumstances. You should consult an attorney, accountant or other legal or tax professional regarding the application of the general information provided here to your organization’s specific situation in light of your organization’s particular needs.