New Jersey Temporary Disability Benefits replace a portion of your paycheck when a non-work illness, injury, or pregnancy keeps you from doing your job. For claims that start in 2026, the weekly payment is 85% of your average weekly wage, up to a maximum of $1,119, and benefits can last as long as 26 weeks.1New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Rate Information, Contributions, andூ The program is funded by payroll deductions from workers and employers, and it covers most people who work in New Jersey.
Who Qualifies
You have to pass two tests: a medical one and an earnings one.
Medically, you need to be under the active care of a licensed doctor, dentist, chiropractor, podiatrist, psychologist, or optometrist for a condition that keeps you from working. The condition cannot be work-related. Injuries that happened on the job go through Workers’ Compensation, which is a separate program with separate rules.2My Leave Benefits. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Information for Healthcare Providers
On earnings, the state looks at your wages during a “base year,” generally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your disability began. If that window doesn’t work for you, an alternative base year counts more recent quarters.3Justia. New Jersey Code 43-21-27 – Definitions Inside that base year, you need at least 20 “base weeks” of covered work, each one with earnings of at least $310. If you fall short of 20 weeks, you can still qualify by meeting a separate minimum for total base-year earnings.4New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Rate Information, Contributions, and Bases
File within 30 days of the first day you couldn’t work. Filing late can shrink or wipe out your benefits, though the state will consider a written explanation for the delay.
How Much You’ll Get and For How Long
Your weekly benefit is 85% of your average weekly wage, subject to a maximum set each year at 70% of the statewide average weekly pay. For 2026, that ceiling works out to $1,119 per week.4New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Rate Information, Contributions, and Bases There is no minimum. If you earned a little, you’ll get a little.
Benefits run up to 26 weeks, but a second cap limits your total payout to one-third of your base-year wages. If you earned $30,000 in your base year, the most you can collect across the whole claim is $10,000, even if you still have weeks left on paper. Part-time and lower-wage workers often hit this cap well before the 26-week mark.
Payments don’t start on day one. New Jersey imposes a seven-day waiting period, so your first seven consecutive days out of work are unpaid.5My Leave Benefits. FAQ – Temporary Disability Insurance If your disability lasts three weeks or longer, the state goes back and pays you for that first week. If you recover sooner, you absorb it. The waiting period resets with each new period of disability, with one exception: if you move directly from your own disability claim into a Family Leave Insurance claim to bond with a newborn, there’s no second wait.6New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. New Jersey Code 43-21-39 – Limitation of Benefits
How to File a Claim
The quickest route is online at myleavebenefits.nj.gov. You create a secure account, complete your portion of the application, and receive an Online Form ID. Print the instructions and hand them to your healthcare provider so they can submit the medical certification online.7Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – When You’re Sick, Injured, or Post-Surgery
If you’d rather use paper, download Form DS-1.8My Leave Benefits. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Application It has three parts. Part A is yours: personal information and bank details if you want direct deposit. Part B goes to your healthcare provider, who supplies the diagnosis, the first day of disability, and an estimated return-to-work date. Part C goes to your employer for your last day worked, employment dates, and wage history. Fax the completed packet to 609-984-4138 or mail it to the Division of Temporary Disability Insurance in Trenton.2My Leave Benefits. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Information for Healthcare Providers
Claims are processed in the order they come in. When the state finishes its review, a Notice of Determination arrives in the mail with your approved weekly amount and start date, or the reason for denial.
How You Get Paid
Approved benefits load onto a Money Network/My Banking Direct prepaid Visa debit card. The card ships in a plain envelope with an Omaha, Nebraska return address, so look twice before you toss it. Payments post to the card within three business days of each payment date.9State of New Jersey. How You’ll Get Your Money
You can swipe the card for purchases, pull cash at an ATM, or move the money to your own account through My Banking Direct at 888-292-0059. If you entered direct-deposit information on your application, payments can go straight to your bank instead.
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Pregnancy and recovery from childbirth count as a disability under this program. Standard coverage is up to four weeks before your expected delivery date, plus six weeks after a vaginal delivery or eight weeks after a cesarean. Your doctor can certify a longer period if complications keep you out of work.
Once you’ve recovered from the physical disability of childbirth, the state automatically mails you Form FL-2 to apply for Family Leave Insurance, which pays for bonding time with your newborn: up to 12 continuous weeks or 56 intermittent days inside a 12-month window. If you file the FLI claim immediately after your disability period ends, you generally get the same weekly rate and skip a second waiting period.10New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Employer Handbook
Does This Protect My Job?
No. Temporary disability benefits are cash payments, not job protection. The program replaces part of your paycheck, but it doesn’t by itself guarantee your job will be there when you come back. Your employer cannot retaliate against you for filing a claim or receiving benefits, and that’s a narrower protection than reinstatement.11My Leave Benefits. Job Protection Information
Job protection comes from separate laws. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave with continued health insurance. You qualify if you’ve worked for the employer at least 12 months, logged 1,250 hours in the past year, and work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Your employer can run FMLA leave at the same time as your disability period, so the 12-week clock can already be running while you collect TDI.
New Jersey’s own Family Leave Act adds protection for workers at employers with 30 or more employees. If your disability runs longer than what those laws cover, your protection against termination narrows. Talk to HR before your leave starts so you know how much protected time you actually have.
Are the Benefits Taxable?
New Jersey does not tax these benefits at the state level. They’re classified as exempt income.12New Jersey Division of Taxation. Exempt (Nontaxable) Income
Federal treatment depends on who funded the premiums. Because workers pay into the state plan with after-tax payroll deductions, state-plan benefits are generally not subject to federal income tax. If your employer runs a private plan and paid part or all of the premium, those benefits may be taxable as income. During the first six months of disability, any taxable benefits are also subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes; after six months, FICA withholding stops even if the benefits remain taxable.
Extending or Closing Your Claim
When your payments are about to end, the state mails you Form P30, Request for Continued Claim Information. It carries a unique Form ID you’ll need to extend your claim online. Don’t try to extend early. Wait for the P30, then use the Form ID in your online account.13Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Want to Extend or End Your Claim?
If you’ve recovered, use the same form to close the claim. Closing it promptly keeps you from running up an overpayment, which the state will eventually demand back. You can check your current payment end date any time by logging into your account.
If Your Claim Is Denied
You have 21 calendar days from the mailing date on your Notice of Determination to file a written appeal. Late appeals aren’t automatically thrown out; include a reason for the delay and an appeals examiner decides whether to accept it.14Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Appeals
After you file, the state may try to resolve the dispute informally with a phone call or a request for more documentation. If that doesn’t settle it, the case goes to the Appeal Tribunal for a telephone hearing. You’ll get a notice in the mail with registration instructions and need to register by 3 p.m. on the business day before the hearing. At the hearing you can give testimony and submit medical records and wage documentation. The tribunal mails a written decision afterward, and that notice explains your options if you want to take it further.14Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance. Division of Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance – Appeals