Governor Murphy just expanded the New Jersey Family Leave Act. It reads cleanly in the statute. It reads a little differently once you try to apply it to real people and real leave requests.
These amendments are not cosmetic. They expand coverage, accelerate employee eligibility, and formally connect NJFLA to New Jersey’s paid-leave system. For employers, this is a structural change in how leave has to be managed.
TL;DR: Governor Murphy has signed legislation that significantly expands the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA). The law now applies to much smaller employers, employees qualify far more quickly, reinstatement obligations are clarified and strengthened, and NJFLA is expressly coordinated with Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), Family Leave Insurance (FLI), and New Jersey’s statutory Earned Sick Leave. Paid leave and job protection are no longer separate conversations. They are one compliance system.
📄 Bill text
📰 Governor’s press release
NJFLA Is Moving Deep Into the Very Small Employer Space
NJFLA already applied to many small employers. The shift now is from small to very small.
The employer coverage threshold drops from 30 employees to:
- 15 employees after the law takes effect on July 17, 2026
- 10 employees one year later
- 5 employees two years later
That is not a technical tweak. It brings NJFLA into workplaces that often do not have dedicated HR staff, formal leave policies, or experience managing reinstatement obligations. Those are exactly the environments where well-intentioned mistakes turn into statutory violations.
Employees Qualify Almost Immediately
Before, NJFLA eligibility required:
- 12 months of employment
- 1,000 hours worked
Now, an employee qualifies after:
- 3 months of employment
- 250 hours worked
Paid Leave and Job Protection Are Now Tied More Closely Together
The amendments strengthen and clarify restoration rights for employees who take:
- Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI)
- Family Leave Insurance (FLI)
Employers must restore employees to their position or an equivalent position and may not retaliate by refusing reinstatement.
That matters because it tightens the connection between paid benefits and job-protected leave. Treating those as separate systems is no longer safe.
Earned Sick Leave Is Now Part of a Coordinated System
The amendments expressly coordinate New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave law with TDI and FLI.
If an employee is eligible for:
- Statutory earned sick leave, and
- Either TDI or FLI
the employee:
- Chooses which statutory leave to use
- Chooses the order
- Cannot receive more than one type of paid leave at the same time
In plain English, the employee controls sequencing. The employer does not.
That makes lawful leave stacking much easier. For example:
- Earned sick leave → TDI → NJFLA
- TDI → FLI → NJFLA
- Earned sick leave → FLI → reinstatement rights
What once felt like separate benefit programs now operates as a single leave ecosystem.
What Employers Should Be Doing Now
- Audit headcount.
Many employers are about to become newly covered without realizing it. - Update NJFLA policies.
Eligibility and coverage sections in most handbooks are now wrong. - Coordinate payroll and HR tracking.
Statutory earned sick leave, TDI, FLI, FMLA, and NJFLA must be tracked together. - Train managers.
Especially on reinstatement obligations and leave sequencing. - Prepare for longer protected absences.
The statute now openly permits sequencing and stacking.
This is not a technical update. It is a structural shift.
Governor Murphy’s amendments, which take effect on July 17, 2026, move NJFLA into the very small-employer space, tie it tightly to paid-leave benefits, and make casual leave management far riskier. Employers who still treat leave as a collection of disconnected programs are about to find out how expensive that approach can be.