One of the questions surrounding the recently expanded paid family leave program is when the changes will take effect.
The law states it takes effect immediately, which would mean Feb. 19, the day Gov. Phil Murphy signed the bill. However, different provisions will actually take effect at different times, so we asked attorney Christina Stoneburner of Fox Rothchild to sort it out.
“This is extra confusing since the law amends the New Jersey Family Leave Act (FLA), the NJ SAFE Act, temporary disability benefits and New Jersey Paid Leave Insurance (PLI) benefits,” Stoneburner said. “Some changes are immediate. Some changes take effect on July 1, 2019 and some don’t take effect until July 1, 2020.”
Go here for a more detailed description of the changes.
Those changes that take effect immediately include:
- Expanded definition of family member: The definition is expanded to mirror sick leave law, which means grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, other blood relations and even non-related individuals whose relationship is like that of a family member all count.
- Reduced-schedule leave: Someone taking reduced schedule leave under FLA can now receive benefits for up to 12 consecutive months instead of 24 weeks.
- Those who take FLA to bond with a newborn will be able to take leave intermittently; it is no longer only available if the employer agrees.
- Employees taking paid family leave cannot be forced to use paid time off. They can elect to use existing paid time off, but their total FLI insurance benefits available will not be reduced by the use of paid time off.
Things that go into effect on July 1, 2019:
- Employers with 30 or more employees will be covered by the FLA covered beginning July 1. Under current law, only employers with 50 or more employees are covered.
- No more waiting period for family leaves starting on or after July 1.
Provisions that go into effect on July 1, 2020 are:
- the increase of paid family leave benefits from six weeks to 12 weeks;
- employees’ ability to take 56 days of intermittent leave instead of 42 days; and
- maximum benefits increasing to 85 percent of individual’s average weekly wage up to the applicable cap.
Additionally, the New Jersey Department of Labor will update the definition of “wages” for purpose of determining the employee withholding of FLI contributions. This will occur on September 1st of each year.
If a company pays vacation, do they still have to pay sick time?
vacation time and sick days are two different things. which you are entitled to get pay for both.
Is the following statement correct? Does not sound right.
“Someone taking reduced schedule leave under FLA can now receive benefits for up to 12 consecutive months instead of 24 weeks.”
Thanks for the comment. We checked with Christina, and here is the response she sent:
“Yes, before you were only allowed to have a reduced schedule for up to 24 weeks. For example, if you were scheduled to work 5 days per week and needed to work 4 days per week, you could only have this arrangement for up to 24 weeks. If you took the fully allowed reduced schedule leave, you would have taken 24 days of leave and would have time left of your 12-week total NJFLA allotment. So, although you still had NJFLA available, you could no longer take the leave on a reduced schedule basis.
“Under the revisions to the law, you can have a reduced schedule for up to 12 months. So, in the same example as above, if you took one day of reduced schedule leave each week and assuming that day off did not coincide with holidays or vacations, you would have taken 52 days at the end of the year. In this case, you would still have 8 days of NJFLA available for other purposes for the remaining 12 months of the leave period.”
Do all NJ employers participate in FLI. Or does it depend on business size?
So employees taking paid family leave and who work say 40 hours a week can elect to use 40 hours of their paid time off in addition to the FLI benefits?
Does the event or family leave need to start after July 1, 2020? If baby is born in June and disability was used until July, would this still be effective? Or another scenario if family leave was started in June, would it extend 6 more weeks?
Wondering the same! any insight on this?
Also wondering the same thing. Would like to see a breakdown if how this impacted having a baby specifically.
Any reply to this yet?
Wondering the same thing!
If you take 6 weeks of FLI prior to July 1st, after July 1st, would you be eligible to take an additional 6 weeks?
Also wondering ! If the baby is born June 26th are you stuck with the 6 weeks ?!
I spoke with the state and my employer regarding this. It was all very confusing but from my understanding, it does not matter when the baby is born. As long as you apply for leave after July 1, 2020 you will be eligible for the new benefits. And you have 12 months after a baby is born to apply for this benefit.
Do you have the name/contact information for the person at State of NJ whom you spoke to?
If my baby is born on June 1, 2020; how am I affected by this? Thanks!
I am taking 5 weeks off in a row to care for an ill sibling.
My family leave start date is October 1st. I got a raise last year and it was better for me financially to start on this date (than September 30th). The form states that the ‘Week Beginning Date’ should be the Sunday of the week you are taking leave. Does that mean the date it would be submitted would be (Sunday) September 29th or can the submitted date be October 1st?
Also, because I’m not using all 6 weeks, I’m assuming that I would need to fill out the partial leave section (Part D).
If so, would I need to check weekends (I work Monday thru Friday) or only the actual days I work?