An extension of New Jersey’s Family Leave Act may bring more funeral homes under the measure’s provisions, granting employee benefits from which smaller firms had previously been exempt.
The 2026 revisions to the Family Leave Act, signed by former Governor Phil Murphy in one of the last acts of his tenure, lower the threshold at which employers are subject to the act from 30 employees to 15. Murphy estimated that the extension would bring more than 400,000 additional employees under the act.
“By amending the eligibility requirements for job-protected leave, we are ensuring newer employees and employees of small businesses are not excluded from the protections of the New Jersey Family Leave Act,” Murphy said in a press release. “Now, employees will not have to work as long before being able to utilize their leave with the assurance that they can return to their job once the leave concludes.”
The Family Leave Act ensures that employees of affected businesses can take leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition or for a newborn child or adopted or foster child. The act allowed for 12 weeks of leave every 24 months for eligible employees, whose jobs and status will be protected during their leave.
“When the leave concludes, the employee is entitled to be restored to their position or a position of equivalent seniority, pay and benefits, and employers cannot retaliate against employees for taking or attempt to take leave,” the press release stated.
The new law, however, extends that benefit to employees at businesses with at least 15 workers, and those workers do not need to be full-time employees. These newly covered employees will also be able to access their Family Leave Insurance cash benefits.
The new law takes effect on July 16, 2026, but firms with fewer than 15 employees will eventually be affected by the measure as well. On July 17, 2027, the eligibility threshold will drop to 10 employees. And on July 17, 2028, the threshold decreases again to five employees, according to a blog post by employment law attorneys Genova Burns.
Genova Burns warned that affected businesses could create extra expenses if the firms must hire temporary workers to cover the person on leave. Also, firms should update their leave policies because of the new law.
Previously, an employee would not become eligible for family leave until they worked for at least 12 months and at least 1,000 hours in the last 12 months. The new extension lowers the eligibility to at least three months work and at least 250 hours during the previous three months.
Advocates said the new extensions were a common-sense measure that would be good for workers, good for children and families and, ultimately, good for the state. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19) said the revisions were needed, given the “realities of today’s workforce.”
Critics of the measure pointed to the extra burden on small employers that may already be struggling in challenging economic conditions. New Jersey Business and Industry Association Chief Government Affairs Christopher Emigholz pointed out that in a firm of 15 employees, the loss of one person amounts to a 7 percent decrease in the workforce, which cannot be made up by simply asking others to work more. Even hiring a temporary worker has become more difficult under state regulations, Emigholz said in a letter sent to the state Senate before the bill was signed.
Emigholz said the previous law “appropriately balanced worker protections with the operational realities of small employer,” but the new extensions would disrupt that balance.