On April 14, 2020, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation (S2374) (the “Law”), amending the New Jersey Family Leave Act (“NJFLA”) leave. Under the Law, which repeals and replaces a March 25, 2020 amendment to the NJFLA about which we wrote here, eligible employees will be entitled to job protected leave to care for a family member as a result of an epidemic of a communicable disease, or efforts to prevent spread of a communicable disease, which:
(a) requires in-home care or treatment of a child due to the closure of the school or place of care of the child of the employee, by order of a public official due to the epidemic or other public health emergency;
(b) prompts the issuance by a public health authority of a determination, including by mandatory quarantine, requiring or imposing responsive or prophylactic measures as a result of illness caused by an epidemic of a communicable disease or known or suspected exposure to the communicable disease because the presence in the community of a family member in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others; or
(c) results in the recommendation of a health care provider or public health authority, that a family member in need of care by the employee voluntarily undergo self-quarantine as a result of suspected exposure to a communicable disease because the presence in the community of that family member in need of care by the employee, would jeopardize the health of others.
The provision applies when there has been a “state of emergency declared by the Governor, or when indicated to be needed by the Commissioner of Health or other public health authority.”
Of particular note, the Law allows the employee to take intermittent leave not only for when the employee must care for a child due to school closure, but also for when the care is for a family member who has been ordered or advised to self-quarantine.
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