Legislation that extends job-protected family leave to nearly 400,000 additional workers will officially go into effect on July 17th. The bill, which passed during the final Voting Session of the 221st Legislature, was signed into law in January. Sponsored by Assemblywomen Annette Quijano and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, Bill A3451 expands access to the State’s Family Leave Act, so that additional workers can have the certainty of knowing their jobs are safe when they need to take time away from work to care for a family member.
| With the law going into effect, Assembly Democrats mark another milestone in their commitment to fighting for working families. “Study after study shows that expanding family leave is good for the workforce, good for babies and families, and good for our state as a whole,” said Speaker Coughlin (D-Middlesex). “By reducing the amount of time someone has to be on the job before becoming eligible for family leave, this legislation recognizes the realities of today’s workforce and makes sure more parents can care for and bond with their newborn without fearing they’ll lose their job. No one should be penalized for needing time to care, and this bill helps make sure the vast majority of workers never will.” Previously, job-protected family leave was only extended to employers that had 30 or more employees. Beginning today, this law lowers that threshold to employers with 15 or more employees and reduces the waiting period for worker benefits. Workers are now eligible for job-protected leave after three months of employment, and 250 hours worked in the past 12 months. “Today’s implementation marks an important step toward a fairer and more inclusive workplace,” said Assemblywoman Quijano (D-Union). “No worker should pay into a system without having access to its full protections. By expanding eligibility under the Family Leave Act, we’re ensuring that more New Jersey workers have the security they deserve when life’s most important moments require them to step away from work.” By lowering the threshold, many more workers at small and mid-sized businesses are now covered under the program, and by reducing the length of time and hours required to qualify, newer employees and part-time workers are no longer locked out from accessing those protections when they need them most. Family Leave Insurance is funded exclusively by employees through affordable payroll deductions, and businesses do not bear the cost of the wage replacement benefits. However, the simple and unfair reality was that an estimated 400,000 employees were paying into these benefits without being able to fully use them because of their employer’s size. That inequity is something this law finally corrects. “Workers in multi-generational families face tough choices on a regular basis, but deciding to take time off to care for a sick relative or a newborn child should not come with the added pressure of worrying if they will have a job to return to,” said Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer, Hunterdon). “This meaningful piece of legislation is designed to remove that barrier for anyone who works somewhere that has 15 or more employees and wants to spend time focused on their families.”Importantly, this is not the first time Assembly Democrats have expanded the Family Leave program. The threshold was previously lowered from 50 employees to 30, reflecting a longstanding commitment to ensuring working families never have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a loved one. |