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Paid Paternity Benefits in New Jersey?

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Is it true there’s is a new law in New Jersey, where fathers can get paid time off after they have a baby?

There is currently no such law in New Jersey.

A law giving cash benefits to new mothers and fathers was proposed by New Jersey State Assemblywomen Shiela Oliver and Linda Greenstein in 2006.

However, the bill was not passed.

New Jersey currently has two laws that may apply to paternity leave. One offers disability payments for new mothers, and one offers unpaid leave for both mothers and fathers.

The New Jersey Short Term Disability program provides cash benefits to an employee who cannot work due to a medical condition. This includes women after childbirth.

The New Jersey Family Leave Act or FLA provides workers with up to 12 weeks of UNPAID leave after the birth of a child, an adoption. Employees can also take FLA leave to care for a parent, child or spouse with a serious illness. Fathers can take unpaid leave under this law, as well as mothers.

Many employers will wonder if this is illegal discrimination based on sex. That should not be a concern. The New Jersey Short Term Disability plan pays workers of either sex when they are unable to work due to physical condition. Although pregnancy is not necessarily a disability, after childbirth most women are medically unfit to work for 4 to 8 weeks – and even longer, if there is surgery or complications. Just as a man who was disabled after a heart attack would collect benefits, so does a woman after childbirth.

However, fathers in New Jersey don’t collect disability benefits because they have no disability. They are medically fit to work.

The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights enforces the New Jersey Family Leave Act. Every employer worldwide with more than 50 workers must give FLA leave to his or her employees, if they work in New Jersey.

The FLA specifically grants employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in 24 months to care for a parent, son, daughter or spouse who has a serious illness. Workers can use this leave to care for a step-parent  or a mother-or father-in-law, as well. The 24-month period begins on the first day that the employee takes leave.

Employees are eligible for leave under NJFLA if they have been employed at least 12 months, and worked 1,000 hours in the past 12 months.

There is some overlap between the NJFLA and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, or FMLA. The FMLA gives fathers – as well as mothers – up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave to bond with a newborn child, a newly adopted child, or a new foster child who is under the age of 18.

However, the FMLA includes a provision for employees to take time off for their own serious health condition. NJFLA does not – it is strictly to care for a family member who is ill.

In some cases, a New Jersey employee who takes 12 weeks of unpaid leave under FMLA for his or her own illness, is entitled to an additional 12 weeks of unpaid leave under NJFLA to care for a family member who is seriously ill.