A Step Forward: The Paid Family Leave Act: Positive Development for both Employees and Employers: Paid Family Leave Act Amounts to a Positive Development for both Employees and Employers. Workers in New Jersey will have Access to Much Needed Funds at Moments of Needs and Employers have the Flexibility to Make Personnel Moves if They Become Necessary (Employment Law‪)‬

On May 2, New Jersey joined California and Washington as the only states to have enacted laws providing paid family leave benefits to employees. The Paid Family Leave Act, Assembly Bill No. 873 (the "PFLA"), amends New Jersey's Temporary Disability Benefits Law, N.J.S.A. 43:21-25 et seq., and provides to qualifying employees a total of six weeks paid leave in any 12-month period, to be paid at two-thirds the employee's regular weekly salary with a cap of $524 per week. The PFLA operates in conjunction with both the New Jersey Family Leave Act ("NJFLA"), N.J.S.A., 34:11B-4, and the Federal Family & Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"), 29 U.S.C. [section] 2612; however, the PFLA has no impact on an employee's rights, or an employer's obligations, under those acts. For example, when an employee is eligible for leave under the NJFLA and/or the FMLA, paid leave runs concurrently. If an employee is entitled to 12 weeks of "protected" leave under the FMLA and/or the NJFLA, the PFLA does not grant any additional time off from work. Rather, it simply provides the employee with a means of income during a portion of that 12-week leave period.