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Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave InsuranceURL reading ( My Leave Benefits . NJ . Gov )

family
Some big changes are here, and more are on the way.
Find out what's new - and what's going to happen next - with the Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance law.
Important information about
changes to the law

On February 19th, 2019, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that changes New Jersey’s Family Leave Insurance and Temporary Disability Law. Some of the changes are effective right away, while others will be phased in over the next two years. 

Scroll down to see highlights of what is new and different. You can find out exactly when the changes will take effect by checking the tabbed sections below the sliding images.

 

Print a timeline of these changes.

Here are some highlights of what's changing:
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We've expanded who counts as a "family member."

You can now receive Family Leave Insurance benefits to care for a child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner as well as parents-in-law, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, any blood relative, plus anyone else with whom you have a close, family-like relationship.

2 of 5 dad with a baby
You don't have to reduce your Family Leave Insurance benefit amount by using paid time off.

Before, if you had paid time off available through your job, your employer could require you to bundle those company-paid days off into your leave time, reducing the amount of Family Leave Insurance benefits for which you could qualify. Now, you can take company-paid time off in addition to the maximum duration of Family Leave Insurance benefits to which you are entitled.

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You can now claim Family Leave Insurance benefits to bond with newly placed foster children.

Under the old law, foster parents were only eligible for benefits to provide care to a seriously ill or injured foster child. Now they can claim benefits to take time off to bond with a new foster-care placement.

4 of 5 woman with baby
Family Leave Insurance benefits for bonding can now be claimed intermittently.

Under the old law, parents claiming benefits for bonding had to do so in increments of at least a week at a time. Now, parents can claim benefits in intermittent days if they want to take off shorter increments of time for bonding over the span of the year.

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Victims of domestic or sexual violence and their family caregivers are both eligible for Family Leave Insurance benefits.

The law explicitly allows workers to claim Family Leave Insurance benefits when they have to take time off from work to attend to matters related to an occurrence of domestic or sexual violence.