New Jersey Family Leave Act is Effective January 31, 2008
NEW JERSEY FAMILY LEAVE INSURANCE PROGRAM
PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS TO BEGIN January 1, 2009
The State of New Jersey is beginning a benefit program to provide up to six weeks of family leave insurance benefits to covered employees. The Family Leave Insurance Program, modeled closely after the state unemployment and disability programs, will provide cash benefits for employees to either bond with a newborn child or to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.
Highlights of the program are as follows:
- Benefits are funded entirely by employee payroll deductions beginning January 1, 2009, of 0.09% of the taxable wage base ($28,900 in 2009). The maximum employee contribution in 2009 is $26.01.
- Benefits for covered employees will be available beginning July 1, 2009. A covered employee would be anyone with employment in at least 20 calendar (base) weeks in New Jersey with earnings of $143 or more, or earnings of at least $7,200 during the 52 weeks prior to the week the family leave claim begins.
- A claimant can receive a maximum of six weeks' benefit in a 12-month period. The benefit amount would be two-thirds of the employee’s average weekly wage based on earnings in the eight weeks prior to claim, with a maximum of $546 per week.
- This program does not establish the right of a covered employee to be restored to employment following a period of leave. (A covered employee’s job may be protected under other federal and state family and medical leave laws in companies with 50 or more employees.)
Details of the law can be found on our website, www.digitpay.com. Click on “Tax Forms and Other Links,” scroll down to "New Jersey" and click the link for "New Jersey Family Leave Fact Sheet."
Employers are required to display a mandatory poster regarding the law. This poster (and all New Jersey posters) can be printed from our website using the “New Jersey Employer Posters” link located directly above the aforementioned Family Leave Fact Sheet link.
PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS TO BEGIN January 1, 2009
The State of New Jersey is beginning a benefit program to provide up to six weeks of family leave insurance benefits to covered employees. The Family Leave Insurance Program, modeled closely after the state unemployment and disability programs, will provide cash benefits for employees to either bond with a newborn child or to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.
Highlights of the program are as follows:
- Benefits are funded entirely by employee payroll deductions beginning January 1, 2009, of 0.09% of the taxable wage base ($28,900 in 2009). The maximum employee contribution in 2009 is $26.01.
- Benefits for covered employees will be available beginning July 1, 2009. A covered employee would be anyone with employment in at least 20 calendar (base) weeks in New Jersey with earnings of $143 or more, or earnings of at least $7,200 during the 52 weeks prior to the week the family leave claim begins.
- A claimant can receive a maximum of six weeks' benefit in a 12-month period. The benefit amount would be two-thirds of the employee’s average weekly wage based on earnings in the eight weeks prior to claim, with a maximum of $546 per week.
- This program does not establish the right of a covered employee to be restored to employment following a period of leave. (A covered employee’s job may be protected under other federal and state family and medical leave laws in companies with 50 or more employees.)
Details of the law can be found on our website, www.digitpay.com. Click on “Tax Forms and Other Links,” scroll down to "New Jersey" and click the link for "New Jersey Family Leave Fact Sheet."
Employers are required to display a mandatory poster regarding the law. This poster (and all New Jersey posters) can be printed from our website using the “New Jersey Employer Posters” link located directly above the aforementioned Family Leave Fact Sheet link.
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