The document summarizes key findings from surveys of EANJ members and New Jersey businesses regarding their experiences with family leave programs. It finds that most family leave claims are filed by women for bonding with newborns, though smaller employers receive fewer claims. While administration time is generally low, some employers suspect fraud. The document also outlines recent expansions to New Jersey's family leave laws and notes they will increase coverage and benefits while reducing employer flexibility.

1. EANJ’s 103rd Annual
Membership Meeting

2. Family Leave/Family Leave Insurance Expansion and FMLA
Sink or Swim
Online survey of EANJ members April, 2019 asking about direct
experience, types of claims, administration, HR perceptions
Cross section of members by size -175 respondents
Telephone Polling of a cross section of N.J. businesses – 200 interviews

3. Key Findings
• Women take 90% of leaves, primarily to care for newborns
• The smaller the employer, the less likely it is that its employees have
taken leaves or filed FLI claims
• 86% of employers with 50 or more employees received FLI claims
• About half of employers surveyed hired a replacement during a leave
• Regardless of size, administration time per FLI claim about an hour;
1.5 hours per FMLA claim
• 28% of employers suspected employee misrepresentation; about 8%
determined fraud

4. New Jersey is a small business state
• 252,000 private-sector employers with fewer than 50 employees
• 96% of all employers
• 1.5 million employees – 43% of total workforce
• 12,000 private-sector employers with 50 or more employees
• 4% of all employers
• 2 million employees

5. NJ Workforce: Gender
• Women 51.3% of total population
• Labor participation rate: 60.5%
• 49% of total workforce
• Median annual earnings/full-time: $48,000/year | $929/week
• 73% - 25-34 years-of-age
• About 300 births per day in New Jersey
• 71% of mothers work outside the home
• 53% of mothers with infants work outside the home

6. NJ Family Leave Insurance Claims
• Program launched July 1, 2009
• About 1% of private-sector
workforce per year
• 82 % of claims are for bonding
with a newborn
• 88% of these claims are by women
• 18% of claims are to care for ill
family members
• 75% of these claims are by women
Source: NJLWD
14,810
30,162 30,701 30,982
32,065 32,168 32,033
33,955
35,992
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
FLI Claims by Year

7. EANJ FLI Survey (June 2017) 115 Respondents
• 77% of members reported having a claim
• 90% of claims involved bonding with a newborn
• 44% of employers permitted intermittent leave
• 53% of employers required use of paid time off
• 88% up to 2 weeks PTO
• 12% up to 1 week PTO
• Do respondents favor an extension from 6 to 12 weeks and increasing
weekly payment to 85% of weekly wage?
• 51% say “no”
• 49% say “yes”

8. Family Leave Insurance Changes - 2019
• 6 weeks becomes 12 weeks - July 1, 2020
• Benefit rate increases from 66% to 85% of person’s average
weekly wage
• $638 to $860 per week
• 7-day waiting week eliminated
• Employer cannot require use of paid time off
• Definition of “family member” expanded – sibling, grandparent,
family members of choice
• Creates civil action for retaliation
• “An employer shall not . . . retaliate on the basis that the
employee requested or took [benefits], including retaliation by
refusing to restore the employee following a period of leave . . .”

9. Respondents
23%
77%
73%
34%
66%
27%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Fewer than 50 Employees 50 or More Employees Designated HR
PercentageofSurveyRespondents
Survey Respondents
EANJ Members Employer Sample

10. Who are the EANJ Survey Respondents?
Job Function 1-9 10-49 50-99 100-249 250-499 50-999 1000+
Human
Resources
0% 46% 73% 87% 87% 75% 100%
Office
Manager
25% 8% 2% 3% 0% 0% 0%
Office
Administrator
0% 5% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Owner 50% 19% 10% 3% 0% 0% 0%
Payroll/
Finance
25% 11% 2% 3% 7% 12% 0%
Other 0% 11% 10% 3% 7% 12% 0%

11. FLI Claims (April 2019)
25%
80%
28%
93%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Fewer than 50 employees 50 or more employees
Percentageofemployersthatreceivedclaims
Number of Employees
EANJ Members Employer Sample
65% of EANJ Members received FLI claims within the past 12 months
70% of Employer Sample received FLI claims within the past 12 months

12. Family Leave Survey (April 2019)
• Of claims filed:
• 89% of claims to bond with a newborn (82% in NJ)
• 51% of claims to care for ill family member (18% in NJ)
70%
90%
77%
98%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Fewer than 50 Employees 50 or More Employees
PercentageofEmployerswhich
ReceivedClaims
Bonding with a Newborn
EANJ Members Employer Sample
30%
55%
32%
62%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Fewer than 50 Employees 50 or More EmployeesPercentageofEmployerswhich
ReceivedClaims
Caring for an Ill Family Member
EANJ Members Employer Sample

13. Size of employers has little impact on time
administering FLI
40%
43%
17%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Less than 1 hour 1-2 hours More than 2 hours
PercentageofEmployers
Time Spent Administering Each Claim
Administration Time per FLI Claim
EANJ Members

14. EANJ Member Survey (April 2019)
• 3 in 10 EANJ Members anticipate an increase in claims as a result of FLI changes
• 4 in 10 Employer Sample respondents anticipate an increase in claims
• EANJ expects an increase in claims across all employer sizes
• Longer duration
• Intermittent in nature
• Employers may need to be more flexible
• Cross-training
• Job sharing
• Telecommuting
REMEMBER: FLI is not a “leave law” and does not mandate a leave of
absence or guaranteed reinstatement but anti-retaliation creates de
facto job protection Note: STD Insurance

15. Employer-Employee Awareness
• NJLWD has $1.2 million budget to expand awareness and promote availability of
FLI
• 6% of Employer Sample states that FLI does not apply (4 or fewer employees)
“We are a small business so this does not apply to us”
“We only have 10 people here, so this really doesn’t affect us”
“We are too small for this to really matter”
“We are mostly staffed seasonally so this doesn’t really apply to us much”
• Lowest benefit uptake: low-wage, non-English speaking male workers
• Landscaping, construction, food-service, manufacturing, and drivers
• University of Rhode Island Survey (2016)
• 48.6% percent did not know FLI program existed
• Workers more likely to hear about FLI from friends and family, not
employers.

16. Role of Payroll Company
97% of Employer Sample uses a payroll company
“We are concerned about how this will play out… We are waiting to hear from
the payroll company.”
“I’m not sure if the payroll company uses anything”
“We are worried about the cost and how payroll will handle the new
deductions”
“We are switching our payroll company and they will handle this in the future”
“We will be switching to a payroll company so I will no longer be dealing with
the paperwork”

17. NJ Family Leave Changes - 2019
• Threshold number of employees reduced from 50 to 30 for job-
protected leave to bond with a newborn or to care for an ill family
member – June, 2019
• Will cover approximately 35,280 employers and 800,000 employees
• 15% of EANJ members will be affected
• “Child” may be any age
• Expanded definitions of “family member” – siblings, grandparents,
family members of choice
• Intermittent and reduced leave for bonding with a newborn

18. NJ FLA Requests (April 2019)
63%
44%
56%
44%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Bonding with a Newborn Caring for an Ill Family Member
PercentageofEmployerswhichReceivedRequest(s)
Type of Request
Types of NJ FLA Requests
EANJ Members Employer Sample
• Average 2.2 hours
administration per NJ FLA
request
• About 3 in 10 hired a
replacement
• 56% anticipate an increase in
leave requests
• 30% not sure
Correlates with employer size

19. FMLA (April 2019)
82%
57% 55%
3%
23%
34% 33%
10%
55%
21%
18%
2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Employee's Serious Health Condition Bonding with a newborn Caring for an Ill Family Member Military-Related Reasons
PercentageofEmployerswhichReceivedRequestType
Type of Request
Types of Leave Taken: EANJ Members vs. Employer Sample vs. National
EANJ Members Employer Sample National

20. FMLA Survey (April 2019)
• FMLA administration takes an average of 3.5 hours per request
• About 50% of EANJ Members and 60% of Employer Sample hired a
replacement
• Most respondents have not suspected employee fraud or
misrepresentation (70%)

21. Small Employers with 49 or fewer Employees
Survey shows that the smaller the employer the less likely a FLI claim is filed
8 of 10 did not have an FLI claim within the last 12-months
Employer with 2-9 employees – 20%
10-49 employees – 20% (5 out of 10 have designated HR)
50-99 employees – 90% (9 out of 10 have designated HR)
100 or more employees - 95-100% (100% have HR)
Guaranteed reinstatement (30 or more employees), de facto FLI job protection and increased
benefit payments will increase FLI claims for smaller employers.
Duration will be longer, up to 12-weeks and will be treated as job-protected.
Employers will need to plan, temporary replacement, job sharing, cross-training
30 is the new 50 - 3 of 4 respondents have a designated HR

22. Size of Employer and Number of FLI Claims
Correlate with Suspicion of Employee
Misrepresentation
0%
10%
25%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
1-9 10-49 50 and Over
PercentageofEmployerswhichhaveDetermined
Fraud
Employer Size
Employers that have Suspected Employee Fraud/Misrepresentation
EANJ Members

23. Suspicion and Proof of Fraud
23%
7%
34%
8%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Suspicion Determination
PercentageofEmployers
Employers that have Suspected or Proven Employee Fraud/Misrepresentation
EANJ Members Employer Sample

24. Has an employee filed a charge alleging violation of
leave rights within the past 12 months?
2%
12%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
PercentageofEmployers
EANJ Members Employer Sample