Expanded paid family leave bill sent to Murphy

The state Legislature sent a bill to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk that would expand many aspects of the state’s paid family leave program.
Under Assembly Bill 3975, which on Thursday passed the Senate by a 27-11 vote and the Assembly by a 50-17 vote with one abstention, the period of Family Leave Insurance (FLI) and Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) expands from six weeks to 12 weeks, while intermittent leave increases from 42 to 56 days.
FLI and TDI family eligibility would expand to siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law and “others related by blood or relationship equivalent to a family relationship,” according to the text of the bill.
“Paid leave can ease financial burdens and provide peace of mind for working families at critical times in their lives,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, said in a statement Thursday.
Starting July 1, 2020, the amount a claimant would earn in benefits goes from two-thirds their average weekly wage to 85 percent of that wage, capped at 70 percent the statewide average weekly wage, up from 53 percent of the SAWW.
“Caring for a newborn child or a loved one with a serious illness can be a real challenge for those who can’t afford to jeopardize their economic security. This is good for families and businesses alike,” Sweeney added.
The bill also lowers the exemption threshold from businesses with more than 50 employees down to 30 employees, a point of criticism from business advocacy groups.
"Expanding the length of paid family leave will force small businesses to pay more overtime to workers or hire replacement employees for longer periods of time," Mike Wallace, vice president of government affairs at the New Jersey Business and Industry Association said Thursday in a statement. “With the legislation lowering the exemption threshold from 50 to 30 employees, more small businesses will be adversely impacted.
The bill also would extend the benefits to victims of sexual and domestic violence, as well as their family members. Employees will no longer have to use all their paid leave before being eligible for FLI and TDI leave, instead limiting the amount to two weeks.
A3975 also boosts anti-retaliation policies so that employers could not retaliate from workers who request TDI or FLI.
“A new and improved paid family leave program puts New Jersey on the national stage once again as an incubator of forward-thinking workplace policy,” Sheila Reynertson, senior policy analyst at the think-tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, said Thursday in a statement. “This legislation offers 21st century working families the dignity of meaningful economic security while taking time off to help a sick loved one or care for a newborn child.”
All of the financing for both programs would come through taxes paid by employees through increasing their FLI and TDI payroll taxes, according to a Jan. 29 fiscal note from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
In 2020, the first full year of the program, the state could have to spend up to $182.8 million more on the program and collect anywhere between $171 million and $225 million. The state would have to spend upwards of an additional $182.8 million that same year.
The revenue intake, mainly through tax collections, would peak during the second full year of the program, 2021 anywhere between an additional $309.7 million and $406.8 million. The state would have to spend upwards of $364.5 million more that year.
Then in 2022, the year that the OLS expects the new tax rates to be fully phased in, the state would have to collect upwards of $364.5 million to support an estimated $364.5 million of expenditures on the program.
Employers made up the lion’s share of the $436 million in TDI and FLI contributions to fund the existing program in 2017 $259 million came from them versus $177 million from workers, according to data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The DOL estimated that in 2018, of the $417.9 million in revenue collected for both programs, $267.8 million came from employers and the remaining $150.1 million from employees.

CREDIT: Jessica Perry