Understanding New Jersey’s Pregnancy and Maternity Leave Laws
We often get questions from our New Jersey clients about the rights of employees who are going out on pregnancy and maternity leave. This issue can be confusing to business owners who have not dealt with the issue in the past due to several overlapping laws and state benefit programs. Adding to the potential confusion for employers, pregnancy and maternity leave involve both disability and family leave issues.
Pregnancy related medical conditions can qualify as disabilities under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations for those conditions. New Jersey generally considers a normal birth to involve four weeks of disability before birth and six weeks to eight weeks after birth, depending on whether the birth was a normal delivery or a c-section, respectively. These "standard" times for pregnancy related disability leave can be longer if the mother has pregnancy related medical complications (which would also qualify as a disability), provided that a longer leave period does not impose an undue hardship on the business.
Employers with 30 or more employees in New Jersey are also subject to New Jersey’s Family Leave Act (NJFLA), which provides job protected leave to care for a family member or bond with a newborn or adopted child. Thus, once an employee's pregnancy related disability ends, the employee may be entitled to up another 12 weeks of job protected leave under the NJFLA. To be eligible for NJFLA, the employee must have been employed for at least one year and worked 1,000 or more hours in the prior 12 months.
In addition to job protections, during a pregnancy related leave of absence, the employee will generally be entitled to claim 10 to 12 weeks of Temporary Disability Benefits (TDB) through the state for the time the employee is unable to work. New Jersey also provides Family Leave Insurance (NJFLI) benefits from the state. An employee’s eligibility for NJFLI starts after the pregnancy-disability and eligibility for TDB ends. NJFLI provides up to 12 weeks of benefits for bonding with a new child. NJFLI, however, does not confer job protection.
Adding to the potential confusion, employers with 50 or more employees are also subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides up to 12 weeks of job protected leave for employees to care for themselves or family members. FMLA and NJFLA leave can overlap, but because NJFLA does not cover care for oneself, employees can potentially receive 24 weeks of job protected leave (12 weeks for the employee’s own medical condition under the FMLA and 12 weeks of bonding time under NJFLA).
The New Jersey Department of Labor has published an overview explaining the overlap of the wage replacement programs and job protection laws, which can be found here.
As the above summary shows, pregnancy related leave can be confusing. Given the numerous laws potentially impacted by pregnancy and maternity leave, when presented with an employee pregnancy, employers should consult with knowledgeable counsel. This will help ensure that employees receive their legal job protections and benefits during pregnancy and that the employer complies with all applicable laws.
If you have questions about your business’ pregnancy or other leave of absence policies, please schedule a complimentary consultation with us through our online scheduling system.
Information contained in this blog is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice or opinion. You should consult with an attorney regarding the specifics of your matter or legal issue.