Under the Family Leave Act (“FLA”), New Jersey residents have the right to take unpaid leaves from employment in the event of an illness, adoption, or childbirth, or to care for a seriously ill family member. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) also provides job protection during leaves.

While FMLA leaves are unpaid, the New Jersey Family Leave Insurance program allows for partial wage-replacement during family and medical leaves. New Jersey is one of only three states that offers workers paid family and medical leave; the wages are paid from pooled employee paycheck contributions. Federal lawmakers are now considering creating a similar national program.

The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act would create a national trust fund as part of the Social Security Administration. The SSA would collect wage contributions from employers and employees and administer leave benefits. The bill calls for employees to contribute 1/5th of one percent of their wages. For the average worker, this is the cost of one cup of coffee per week.

Paid leave benefits would be available to anyone with a work history and sufficient earnings. This is in contrast to the FMLA and the New Jersey FLA, which require only companies that have 50 or more employees to provide job-protected leaves; to be eligible for an unpaid FMLA or FLA leave, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least one year, having put in a minimum of 1,250 hours.

The FAMILY Act would not provide total wage replacement during leaves. Individuals would receive up to 66 percent of their normal monthly wages, and there would be a cap.

This bill may prove controversial with employer groups. Americans have only had the right to unpaid family and medical leaves for the past 20 years, and we remain the sole advanced economy that does not have a national paid family leave policy.

It will be interesting to see whether this legislation gains momentum or dies in the current Congress. In the meantime, New Jersey residents should be aware that they have family and medical leave rights under the federal FMLA, NJ FLA, and NJ Family Leave Insurance program.

If you have questions or concerns about coverage, you should speak to an experienced employment law attorney.

Source: Hudson Valley Press, “Family Medical Insurance Leave Act Introduced,” Jan. 1, 2014

Source: Washington Post, “States make moves toward paid family leave,” Brigid Schulte, Jan. 2, 2014