Increasing numbers of employees are caring for aging parents and must take a leave from their employment to care for the needs of an older parent. If you are a New Jersey employee who is covered under New Jersey’s Family Leave Act, you are entitled to leave time to take care of parents or other family member with a significant health issue. Covered employers must restore employees to the same or an equivalent position upon return from the family leave, i.e., restoration to a position with the same pay, benefits, and seniority. The Family Leave Act protects employees from an employer retaliating against them for taking or requesting such leave.
Don’t sit on your rights. If your employer is interfering with your rights under the the Family Leave Act, call today for a free consultation. I accept cases from all over the state and have locations in northern, central and southern NJ to meet with clients. Call today for a free consultation.
Current law vs. the amended Family Leave Act to take effect on July 14, 2026.
The current New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) requires covered employers to reinstate employees to the same or an equivalent position upon return from family leave. Currently, this employment-protected leave applies to employers (a “covered employer”) with 30 or more employees. However, amendments to the Act which were signed by former governor Philip Murphy shortly before leaving office, reduces the number of workers an employer must employee to only 15 or more employees.
Massive Changes in NJFLA as to Definition of Covered Employers
This amended Family Leave Act will revise the law concerning family leave to extend job protection by reducing the employee threshold from 30 to 15 employees in its definition of employer. This is an expansive increase in the number of NJ employers who will have to abide by the new law. This reduction in number of required employees down to only to 15, takes effect beginning July 14, 2026, when the entire amended Family Leave Act shall take effect, July 14, 2026. According to language in the amended FLA, with respect to any period of time after its effective date, a covered employer is one who employs 15 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the then current or immediately preceding calendar year.
Changes in NJFLA in Requirements of a Covered Employee Entitled to Receive FLA Protections as of July 14, 2026
Under the current NJFLA, for an “Employee" to be a “covered Employee” who is entitled to NJFLA’s protections and benefits, means an employee who is employed for at least 12 months by an employer for not less than 1,000 base hours during the immediately preceding 12 month period.
Under the Amended NJFLA, the requirements for an employee to be entitled to its protections and benefits, i.e., a “Covered Employee”, means an employee who is employed for at least only three (3) months by an employer for not less than 250 base hours during the immediately preceding 12 month period. The enactment of the Amended NJFLA greatly expands the number of employees, some who are not working full time, who will nevertheless receive FLA protection and benefits as of the amendments taking effect on July 14, 2026.
The Aging US Population Will Result in More Employees Taking Advantage of this Law.
In reviewing age demographics collected by government agencies, it is foreseeable that a greater percentage of New Jersey employees will need to take time off work under the FLA to care for their aging parents with a significant health issue.
In the US, Half of All Persons with a Disability are Age 65 or Older.
According to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2025, half of all people with a disability were age 65 and over, nearly three times larger than the share for those with no disability.
It is foreseeable that according to these demographics, there may be an increase in employees with a disability who are still working but require an accommodation, to suffer job discrimination as a result of their own disability. See New Jersey Disability Discrimination Lawyer. An unscrupulous employer may discriminate against employees with disabilities by discrediting the employee’s job performance by giving them undervalued Employee Performance Evaluations as a bogus excuse to terminate them. See NJ Employment Attorney, Employee Managers Requiring Disability Accommodation Pressured into Resigning.
The US Population Age 65 and Over Increased at 38.6% in the Ten Years from 2010 to 2020.
In the 2020 US Government Census, 1 in 6 people in the United States were age 65 and older. In 1920, this proportion was less than 1 in 20 according to these government statistics.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the US population age 65 and over grew at the fastest rate ever in the ten years from 2010 to 2020, at 38.6%. This is the fastest rate since 1880 to 1890. The older population age 65 and older reached 55.8 million or 16.8% of the population of the United States in 2020. This change in US age demographics could lead to more employee age discrimination. New Jersey Age Discrimination Lawyer.
Age discrimination affects all levels of employees, including top level managers and chief executives. Government statistics reveal a huge gap between those who remain employed in these upper-level positions before and after they are 54 years of age.
The average age of Chief Executives in the United States is 52.2 years according to 2024 statistics collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor. The total number of Chief Executive employees among all ages is 1,728,000. After the age group of those ages 45 to 54 years, among Chief Executives in all age groups, there is a significant reduction in the rate of those employed after age 54. See NJ Employment Attorney, Older Chief Executives and Senior Executives Fired Due to Age.
If you are a NJ worker whose employer is paying you less for doing substantially the same kind of work as other employees, and the pay disparity is based upon your protected class such as age, race, gender etc., you could be entitled to treble damages under the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act if the employer has no legal defenses. See Unequal Pay and Wage Claims - Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act.
DON’T SIT ON YOUR RIGHTS
In many instances of discrimination, if you quit your job, you may lose right to prevail in a lawsuit unless you first take certain legally required measures to preserve your job while you are still employed. If you are thinking of handing in a resignation letter or think you will be fired (or have already been terminated), you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation to discuss your options.
Call today for a free consultation. If you think your employer is discriminating against you, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation. I have represented public and private employees who were illegally discriminated against and was successful in recovering financial compensation for their emotional pain and suffering and moneys for lost wages, both for past lost wages and projected future lost wages. If you think your employer is illegally discriminating against you, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation. I accept discrimination cases from all over New Jersey and have locations in Southern, Central and Northern NJ to meet with clients.
Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law represents workers throughout the entire state, including Hackensack, Jersey City, Newark, Irvington, Orange, East Orange, Trenton, Paterson, Montclair, Elizabeth, North Brunswick, Cherry Hill, Vineland, Union, Plainfield, Hamilton Township, Lakewood, Edison, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Franklin, Lakewood, and every NJ County, including Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Essex, Monmouth, Somerset, Ocean, Union, Camden, Passaic, Morris, Gloucester, Atlantic, Burlington, Camden Counties.