Significant Changes to New Jersey Family Leave Take Effect July 17

New Jersey’s family leave law is about to cover more workers and more small employers. Approved on 01/17/2026, July 17 is the six-month post-enactment implementation date. Changes include lowering the threshold for private employers covered by the NJFLA from 30 employees to 15 employees and reducing the number of months and hours an employee must have worked in order to be eligible.

Here’s a Before and After:

New Jersey Family Leave Changes: Before and After
Issue	Before July 17, 2026	Starting July 17, 2026
Private employer coverage	30 or more employees	15 or more employees
Employee time with employer	12 months	3 months
Hours worked requirement	1,000 hours	250 hours worked during the immediately preceding 12-month period
TDI / FLI job restoration	State benefits did not always guarantee job restoration	Workers receiving TDI or FLI benefits gain job-restoration rights
Earned sick leave and state benefits	Employers had more control over coordination	Workers may choose the order in which they use earned sick leave and TDI or FLI benefits
Double payment	Not applicable	Workers cannot receive more than one paid leave benefit at the same time

The change means a lot more workers will qualify for job-protected family leave and much sooner than before. It also means businesses with 15 to 29 employees may now fall under NJFLA requirements.

The law also adds job-restoration rights for workers who receive Temporary Disability Insurance or Family Leave Insurance benefits, meaning that a covered worker who takes those benefits is entitled to return to the same position or an equivalent position with similar seniority, status, employment benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment.

Lastly, under the new law, a worker who is eligible for earned sick leave and either TDI or FLI can choose which benefit to use and in what order, but they can’t receive more than one kind of paid leave at the same time.

The bottom line: New Jersey’s family leave protections are moving deeper into the small-business world, and these changes take effect next week.

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