On January 17, 2026, in one of his final acts as governor, Phil Murphy signed into law a bill (A3451/S2950) that will greatly expand the reach and protections of the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA). When the amendments take effect in six months, thousands of currently exempt small employers will be required to grant employees twelve weeks of annual job-protected family leave, and, seemingly, both large and small employers alike will be required to grant job-protected medical leave, creating an entirely new state law leave entitlement.
