Effective July 17, 2026, more New Jersey employers will be required to provide extensive family leave to eligible employees, and those employees will enjoy job protection. Starting in July 2026, employers with 15 or more employees who worked at least 20 calendar weeks that year or in the previous year will be required to provide New Jersey Family Leave, i.e., to allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a two-year period to care for a seriously ill family member or bond with a new child. As of July 2027, the law will apply to employers with only 10 or more employees and as of July 2028, employers with only 5 or more employees will be required to provide leave.

The amendments also add job protection for employees who have taken temporary disability benefits under the New Jersey law that offers up to 26 weeks of partial wage replacement for eligible employees who cannot work because of injury, disability, or an illness that isn’t related to work, (which includes but is not limited to pregnancy and complications stemming from childbirth). It is as yet unclear whether the amendments will have the effect of extending job protection for employees who take both family leave and temporarily disability leave, though the amendments state that they are not to be construed “as increasing, reducing or otherwise modifying any entitlement provided to a worker by the provisions of the ‘Family Leave Act,’ to be restored to employment.”

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development may be issuing regulations within the next six months under the amendments to the law, but employers who had previously been excluded from these leave obligations will have to anticipate their application beginning in July.

Stokes Wagner will continue to monitor updates and will provide additional updates as they become available. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact a Stokes Wagner attorney.

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