Is FMLA Paid Leave in NJ? How TDI and FLI Fill the Gap

No. FMLA is unpaid in New Jersey, just as it is in every other state. What New Jersey adds is a pair of state-run wage-replacement programs that can put money in your pocket during the same leave: Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) if you’re out for your own health condition, and Family Leave Insurance (FLI) if you’re bonding with a new child or caring for a seriously ill family member. In 2026, both pay 85% of your average weekly wage up to $1,119 a week.¹

Why FMLA Doesn’t Come With a Paycheck

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act was written as a job-protection law, not a wage law. It gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks off per year for a new child, a serious health condition (your own or a close family member’s), or certain military family situations, and it requires your employer to keep your group health coverage in place and give you your job back (or an equivalent one) when you return.²

To qualify for FMLA, you need to work for a covered employer (a public agency, a school, or a private employer with at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite) and have logged at least 12 months and 1,250 hours with that employer in the prior year.²

None of that produces a paycheck. For the paycheck, you look to the state.

The Two New Jersey Programs That Pay You

Temporary Disability Insurance

TDI covers you when you can’t work because of your own non-work-related illness, injury, pregnancy, or mental health condition. That includes surgery recovery, pregnancy complications, and the medical recovery period after childbirth. Benefits can last up to 26 weeks.³⁴

Family Leave Insurance

FLI pays you when you take time off to bond with a newborn, newly adopted, or newly placed foster child, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition. It also covers time off to handle domestic or sexual violence issues, whether you’re the survivor or caring for one. You can collect up to 12 consecutive weeks of benefits, or up to 56 individual days if you take leave intermittently, within a 12-month period.⁵

Both programs are funded entirely by employee payroll deductions. Your employer contributes nothing. In 2026, contributions come out of the first $171,100 in covered wages.¹

Where the New Jersey Family Leave Act Fits

The New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) is the state version of FMLA’s job-protection piece. It currently covers private employers with 30 or more employees worldwide and public agencies of any size, and it gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 24-month period to bond with a child or care for a family member.⁶ NJFLA doesn’t pay you either. It protects your job while TDI or FLI pays you.

How Much You Actually Get in 2026

Both TDI and FLI pay 85% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,119 per week for 2026.⁵¹ Hitting that ceiling takes an average weekly wage of roughly $1,317. Earn less and your benefit is simply 85% of what you earn.

TDI has a waiting week. Benefits don’t begin until the eighth day of your disability, and you’re paid retroactively for that first week only if your leave stretches to 22 days or more. FLI has no waiting week. Benefits cover you from day one.⁷

Who Qualifies for the Paid Benefits

Eligibility for TDI and FLI is based on what you earned during a base year, defined as the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. For 2026, you need to meet one of two thresholds:

20 base weeks with earnings of at least $310 per week, or
at least $15,500 in total base-year wages.

Those figures rose from $260 and $13,000, so confirm the current numbers when you file.¹

Most private-sector and government employees are covered. Self-employed workers aren’t automatically in, but they may opt in. For bonding leave, you have to start your leave within one year of the child’s birth or placement.⁶ For caregiving leave, you’ll need medical certification from a healthcare provider describing the condition and expected duration.⁸

NJFLA job protection has its own separate test: currently one year of employment and 1,000 hours in the past 12 months.⁶ That threshold drops sharply in July 2026, discussed below.

How to File

File TDI and FLI claims through the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, either online or by mail. File within 30 days of the first day of your leave. Late applications require an explanation, and benefits can be reduced or denied.⁹

Documentation depends on the reason. Bonding leave needs proof of the child’s birth or placement, like a birth certificate or adoption papers. Caregiving leave needs medical certification from the family member’s provider.

Expect several weeks of processing. Online claim status usually appears within a few days; paper applications can take up to two weeks just to enter the system. A status of “In progress: decision still pending” that doesn’t move for weeks is normal. Once approved, payments land on a state benefits debit card within a few days.¹⁰ Plan for a gap between your last paycheck and your first benefit payment.

Stacking FMLA, NJFLA, TDI, and FLI

You can be covered by all four at once, and they don’t run on the same clock. A common sequence after childbirth: TDI for the medical recovery period (typically six to eight weeks), then FLI for up to 12 weeks of bonding. FMLA runs concurrently with both and provides 12 total weeks of job protection. NJFLA runs on a 12-week clock measured over 24 months, which can extend job protection past the point FMLA runs out.⁶

You can collect FLI cash benefits and NJFLA job protection at the same time.⁶ What you can’t do is collect FLI or TDI at the same time as unemployment insurance.¹¹

Your employer cannot force you to use up accrued PTO or vacation before collecting FLI. If you choose to use PTO, those days don’t count against your FLI entitlement; you get them on top of your maximum FLI weeks.⁹

Health Insurance and Taxes While You’re Out

If your leave qualifies under FMLA, your employer has to keep your group health coverage on the same terms as if you were working, meaning it keeps paying its share of the premium. You still owe your share. If your premium payment is more than 30 days late, your employer can drop coverage, though it must be restored when you return without new waiting periods or pre-existing condition exclusions.¹² Since benefits replace only 85% of your wages and premiums normally come out of a full paycheck, budget for those payments before your leave starts.

New Jersey does not tax FLI benefits at the state level, but they are subject to federal income tax. The state issues a Form 1099-G after year-end and reports the amount to the IRS. You can elect to have 10% of your benefits withheld for federal tax to avoid a surprise at filing time.⁵

What Changes on July 17, 2026

Legislation signed in January 2026 expands the NJFLA effective July 17, 2026, with three changes worth knowing about:¹³

The private-employer threshold drops from 30 employees to 15 worldwide. Public agencies of any size stay covered.
Employee eligibility loosens to three months of employment and 250 hours in the past 12 months, down from one year and 1,000 hours.
Employees returning from TDI or FLI leave get the same reinstatement protections as those returning from NJFLA leave.

The last change is the practical one. Until then, TDI and FLI replace wages but don’t themselves guarantee your job back; workers at smaller employers or those who hadn’t hit NJFLA or FMLA tenure requirements could collect the benefit without any legal guarantee their position would be waiting. After July 17, 2026, collecting TDI or FLI itself triggers job protection.

1
Department of Labor & Workforce Development. NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development Announces New Benefit Rates for 2026
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
3
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. When You’re Sick, Injured, or Post-Surgery
4
NJ.gov. Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance
5
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Family Leave Insurance
6
New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. New Jersey Family Leave Act Frequently Asked Questions
7
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. The Waiting Week for Temporary Disability, Explained
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Health Care Providers to Complete a Certification under the FMLA
9
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. FAQ: Family Leave Insurance
10
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. What Happens After I Apply?
11
Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Family Leave During Unemployment
12
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.212 – Employee Failure to Pay Health Plan Premium Payments
13
New Jersey Office of Attorney General. New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA)