The NJ Family Leave Act Just Dropped to 15 Employees

The short answer

As of July 17, 2026, the New Jersey Family Leave Act covers employers with 15 or more employees worldwide, down from 30. Eligible employees who have worked for you at least 3 months and 250 hours in the past 12 months can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 24-month period to bond with a new child or care for a family member with a serious health condition. If you have between 15 and 29 employees and any of them work in New Jersey, this law now applies to you.

What changed on July 17, 2026

New Jersey lowered the bar for its family leave law this summer, and most of the guidance you will find online has not caught up. The New Jersey Family Leave Act, called the NJFLA, used to apply only to employers with 30 or more employees. As of July 17, 2026, it applies to employers with 15 or more.

The change came from a bill numbered A3451, which was signed into law on January 17, 2026, as P.L.2025, c.279. It took effect on July 17, 2026. NJDOL announced the new protections in a July 15, 2026 press release.

Three numbers moved at once. The employer threshold dropped from 30 employees to 15, counted worldwide. The length of service an employee needs before taking leave dropped from 12 months to 3 months. The hours an employee needs in the prior 12 months dropped from 1,000 to 250.

Put those together and the practical effect is large. A 20-person company with a few New Jersey employees had no NJFLA obligation on July 16. On July 17 it did. And an employee who joined in the spring, working part time, may already qualify.

The same law also added job protection for employees who receive TDI or FLI benefits, at any employer size. The FLI section below covers it.

If you read somewhere that NJFLA starts at 30, that was true when it was written. It is not true now. Check the date on anything you rely on.

What the NJFLA actually provides

The NJFLA gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 24-month period. The leave is for bonding with a new child or caring for a family member with a serious health condition. The statute also covers certain care during a communicable disease emergency, such as caring for a child whose school or child care is closed by official order.

Job-protected means the employee has the right to return to their position when the leave ends. The NJFLA is about the job, not the paycheck. Pay during leave, if any, comes from a separate program, which the next section covers.

To be eligible, an employee must have worked for you for at least 3 months and for at least 250 hours in the 12 months before the leave. Under the old rule those numbers were 12 months and 1,000 hours. The new numbers mean many part-time and recently hired employees now qualify.

Note that the 12 weeks is measured against a 24-month window, not a single year. Track leave against that window so you know how much each employee has left.

NJFLA vs Family Leave Insurance vs FMLA

New Jersey has two programs with similar names and different jobs, and the federal government has a third. Employers mix them up constantly.

The NJFLA is a job protection law. It says the employee gets their job back.

New Jersey Family Leave Insurance, called FLI, is a wage replacement program run by NJDOL. It pays the employee a benefit while they are out. Since July 17, 2026, it also comes with job protection. NJDOL says an employee who receives TDI or FLI benefits has the right to return to the same job when the leave ends, at any employer size, even if the employee does not qualify for NJFLA or FMLA leave. FLI is funded by employee payroll contributions. For 2026, employees contribute 0.23 percent on the first $171,100 of wages, and there is no employer contribution. The 2026 maximum weekly benefit is $1,119.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act, called FMLA, is a job protection law like the NJFLA. Its threshold is 50 employees. A company with 15 to 49 employees can now be covered by the NJFLA and not by FMLA. That gap is exactly where the July 17, 2026 change bites.

An employee can use more than one at the same time. A New Jersey employee at a 20-person company who has a new baby may take NJFLA leave for job protection and file an FLI claim for wage replacement. The two run on separate tracks and separate paperwork. Your role on the FLI side is to post the notice and give written notice at hire, on request, and when the employee tells you they need leave.

To see the New Jersey and federal rules that turn on at your headcount, open our What applies to you tool set to South Jersey.

How to count to 15

The 15 employees are counted worldwide. That is the part that surprises people. A company with 12 employees in Pennsylvania and 3 in New Jersey has 15 employees for NJFLA purposes. A company with 40 employees in Texas and 1 in New Jersey is covered.

Do not count only your New Jersey staff. Count everyone on payroll, everywhere.

The exact counting mechanic is where you should slow down. The amended statute, N.J.S.A. 34:11B-3, covers an employer that employs 15 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

Under that test, a company that hovers around 15 could be covered based on last year’s headcount even if it is at 14 today. Those edge cases are worth a conversation with your employment attorney. If you are anywhere near 15, the safer assumption is that you are covered.

One more thing about counting. New Jersey uses different counting rules for different laws. The Pay and Benefit Transparency Act, for example, applies at 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks. Do not assume one headcount answers every question.

The other law that turns on at 15: Opportunity to Compete

The NJFLA is not the only New Jersey law with a 15-employee threshold. The Opportunity to Compete Act, New Jersey’s ban-the-box law at N.J.S.A. 34:6B-11 and following, also applies to employers with 15 or more employees. If the July 17, 2026 change put you over 15 for the first time, check whether you have been complying with this one too.

The Opportunity to Compete Act bars covered employers from asking about criminal history during the initial application process. NJDOL’s rules define that period as running from first contact through the first interview. After the first interview, you may ask.

Like the NJFLA, the 15 employees do not all need to work in New Jersey. Coverage attaches if you do business, employ people, or take applications in New Jersey for positions based in whole or substantial part in New Jersey.

There are exceptions for law enforcement, corrections, the judiciary, homeland security, emergency management, positions where a law, rule, or regulation requires a background check or limits hiring based on a criminal record, and programs designed to hire people with records. If your roles do not fall in those categories, the rule applies.

NJDOL’s rules at N.J.A.C. 12:68 set out the definitions. The practical fix is usually simple: remove the criminal history checkbox from the application and move any background check to a point after the first interview.

What to do this quarter

If you have 15 or more employees worldwide and any of them work in New Jersey, work through these steps before the end of the year.

Count your employees worldwide. Include every location and every state. Apply the 20-workweek test described above.
Decide whether you are covered. If the count is 15 or more, assume you are. If it is close, treat yourself as covered while you confirm.
Identify eligible employees. Anyone with at least 3 months of service and 250 hours in the prior 12 months is eligible. Under the new numbers, that includes many part-time and recently hired staff.
Write or update your family leave policy. State the 12 weeks in 24 months, the eligibility rule, the qualifying reasons, and how an employee requests leave. If your handbook says 30 employees, 12 months, or 1,000 hours, it is out of date.
Separate job protection from pay in the policy. Explain that NJFLA protects the job and that FLI, filed with NJDOL, may replace wages. Also explain that, since July 17, 2026, an employee who receives TDI or FLI benefits has the right to return to their job even without NJFLA leave. Give the written FLI notice at hire and when an employee gives notice of leave.
Set up a tracker. Record leave against a rolling 24-month window for each employee so you can answer how much time remains.
Check your job application. If you are at 15 or more, remove criminal history questions from the initial application process under the Opportunity to Compete Act.
Update your postings. Confirm the FLI poster (PR-2) from the NJDOL Employer Poster Packet is posted, electronically for remote staff. Once you are covered by the NJFLA, also post the Division on Civil Rights Family Leave Act poster and give each employee a written copy by December 31 each year and on first request.
Brief your managers. Anyone who approves time off should know the NJFLA now starts at 15 employees and should route requests to whoever owns HR.

If you also have New Jersey employees at a smaller headcount, remember that many New Jersey rules start well before 15. Our article on New Jersey sick leave from employee one covers what lands with the first New Jersey hire.

Checklist

Count all employees worldwide, not just those in New Jersey.
Confirm whether you meet the 15-employee NJFLA threshold under the 20-workweek counting rule.
Identify employees with 3 or more months of service and 250 or more hours in the prior 12 months.
Update your handbook to say 15 employees, 3 months, and 250 hours, replacing any reference to 30, 12 months, or 1,000.
State the 12 weeks in 24 months entitlement and the qualifying reasons: bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, and certain care during a communicable disease emergency.
Explain in the policy that NJFLA protects the job and FLI replaces wages, that the two are separate, and that since July 17, 2026, an employee who receives TDI or FLI benefits also has the right to return to their job.
Give written FLI notice at hire, on request, and when an employee gives notice of leave.
Confirm 2026 FLI employee contributions of 0.23 percent on the first $171,100 are set up in payroll, with no employer contribution.
Build a rolling 24-month leave tracker for each employee.
Remove criminal history questions from the initial application process if you have 15 or more employees.
Post the FLI poster (PR-2) and the rest of the NJDOL Employer Poster Packet.
Post the Division on Civil Rights Family Leave Act poster and give each employee a written copy by December 31 each year and on first request.
Re-check any published guidance you rely on. If it says 30 employees, it predates July 17, 2026.