Will New Jersey Expand Paid Family Leave?

Date: April 04, 2017

New Jersey is one of only a few states that offer family leave insurance funded by employee payroll deductions, but Democratic lawmakers would like to go farther. Last month, they announced a proposal to expand the state’s program.

Currently, employers must allow workers to take paid leave to care for a new child or sick relative. Employees can take up to six weeks during a twelve-month period and can draw benefits equaling two-thirds of their regular weekly wage, which is funded by a mandatory employee payroll tax.

Under the new proposal, benefits would expand from six weeks of leave to twelve weeks in a twelve-month period, two-thirds of weekly wages to 80 percent, and the maximum numbers of days off in a year from 42 to 84. It would also be funded by employee and employer payroll contributions of two-tenths of a percent each.

In an op-ed in the Observer, Donald Scarinci wrote, “the NJ legislation to expand family leave appears to be more about politics than about good public policy. It is not even good politics at that. In a state that has become the country’s top exporter of businesses and jobs over the last decade, expanding family leave right now will just exacerbate the flight.” Scarinci is the managing partner at Scarinci Hollenbeck law firm in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, as well as the editor of the Constitutional Law Reporter and Government and Law blogs.

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