Paid Family Leave While Unemployed
Help for employees who need to bond with a new child or care for a loved one but have not recently worked and/or are receiving unemployment insurance.
About the program, MOVENI
If your first day of family leave is more than 14 days after your last day of covered employment in New Jersey and you are not on employer-approved leave, you may be eligible for Family Leave During Unemployment Insurance (FLDU), a combination of family leave and unemployment insurance.
Benefits can be requested for:
- Bonding with a newborn, newly adopted child, or newly placed foster child
- Caring for a family member with a physical or mental health condition, including COVID-19 (see the broad definition of “family” under the law at myleavebenefits.nj.gov/caregiver),
- Address issues related to domestic or sexual violence, whether you or a loved one is a survivor/victim.
Most New Jersey workers are eligible.
To be eligible you must:
- Have earned at least $12.000 total or $240 a week for 20 total weeks from a job in the 18 months prior to the start of your application; Y
- Meet all Unemployment Insurance requirements, except be “available” for a possible jobDue to the need for bonding or care leave.
Receive up to 60% of your average salary, up to $804/week.
Benefits are paid for full calendar weeks, beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday. If you have a request for Unemployment or Disability Insurance during Unemployment within that benefit year, usually You will receive the same benefit percentage that you received on your previous application.
Receive up to 12 weeks of benefits
Family leave during unemployment benefits can be requested for up to 12 consecutive weeks in a 12-month period or up to eight weeks in a 12-month period if benefits are claimed intermittently on a week-to-week basis. Each week claimed must be on a Sunday through Saturday schedule. The 12-month period begins on first day of requested family leave and lasts 365 consecutive days thereafter.
Apply for benefits online at myleavebenefits.nj.gov/unemployed
You can start the online application process up to 60 days in advance and be saved as a draft. Once your license begins, you must return to your draft (within 14 days start of your license) to certify and submit your application. If the application is submitted after the start of your family leave, you will have 30 days from the first day of the application to submit it. Approval of the application and payment of benefits may take four to six weeks, once we have a complete application.
Learn how it pays at myleavebenefits.nj.gov/unemployed
Source: NJDOL- “Family Leave During Unemployment.”