1. Under the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), if you work for a state or local government agency, or a company or organization with 30 or more employees worldwide and have been employed by the company for at least 1 year (and have worked at least 1,000 hours in the past 12 months), you can generally take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave during any 24-month period:

• To care for or bond with a child, provided the leave begins within 1 year of the child's birth or placement for adoption or foster care;
• To care for a family member, or someone equivalent to the family, with a serious health condition (including a diagnosis of COVID-19), or who has been isolated or quarantined due to suspected exposure to disease communicable (including COVID-19) during a state of emergency; either
• To provide necessary care or treatment to a child during a state of emergency if his or her school or place of care is closed by order of a public official due to an outbreak of a communicable disease (including COVID-19) or other emergency of public health.

2. You can take a consecutive block of up to 12 weeks of leave or you can take an intermittent or reduced schedule.

3. NJFLA leave is not the same as the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) , so NJFLA leave will not be used up while you are on leave for your own serious medical condition under the FMLA. Therefore, in some situations, you may be entitled to take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave for your own condition and 12 weeks of NJFLA leave to care for a family member, in a single 12-month period.

4. If you are pregnant or have recently given birth, you can take up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and postpartum leave under FMLA, and then you can take an additional 12 weeks of NJFLA leave to bond with or care for your baby after your doctor certifies you are fit to return to work or you have exhausted your FMLA leave (whichever comes first). Any parent can take leave under NJFLA to bond with or care for a newborn or a child recently placed for adoption or foster care.

5. When you return to work, you generally have the right to return to the same position you held before the leave, and your employer cannot retaliate against you because you took or attempted to take leave under the NJFLA.