Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Employers' Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions that employers ask us most often.
If you’re not sure about something, chances are the answer will be here.
The New Jersey Temporary Disability Law does require all employers who participate in the Temporary Disability Insurance program to post information about the program and to submit wage and employment information to our Division within nine days of a request.
Wages for each employer are reported to the State of New Jersey under your assigned federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). We use those wages to determine whether or not your employee/former employee has enough wages to qualify for benefits.
You should report the last day that your employee physically worked. Do not use the week-ending, pay-period ending, or paycheck date. Any dates when your employee was paid after he or she stopped working should be reported as “continuation pay” in a separate section of the application.
Be as specific as possible. Submit the exact dates paid, the gross amount, and whether the pay is for a full day or part of a day.
Under the Law, benefits combined with paid time off cannot total more than your employee would earn working. We compare your employee’s paid time off with his or her regular weekly wage to calculate the amount of lost wages each week, and we pay your employee the difference, up to the maximum weekly benefit rate.
If you plan to pay your employees the difference between the amount of their weekly benefit rate and the amount they would have earned working, provide that information when you submit the Employer Statement.
You should separate the amount of the bonus from the regular wages, and tell us if it is a monthly, quarterly, yearly, or one-time bonus.
You should provide the weekly amount for each week your employee worked during the base year. The reason we send this form is to get more accurate earnings amounts. We need to determine whether or not your employee has enough base week earnings to qualify for benefits. This is especially important for people who work several part-time jobs. Earnings for each week are added together to see if they meet the base-week earnings threshold.
For example, a person who earns $100 each week from one employer and $75 each week from another employer would not meet the minimum base week requirement separately, but combined, that person earns $175 each week, which is enough to qualify for benefits.
To determine the chargeable employer(s), we look at the last day the applicant worked or received paid time off before the disability began. That employer is charged even if the employee only worked part-time, and/or even if he or she only worked there briefly.
If your employee’s healthcare provider states that your employee can work light duty (or work with other restrictions), it is up to you as the employer to decide whether or not those restrictions can be accommodated. If they can’t be accommodated, you should tell your employee and submit the information to our division. This will not prevent the applicant from receiving additional benefits.
Year-end statements for Temporary Disability Insurance benefits are available online in January for the preceding year. Only a portion of the Temporary Disability Insurance benefits paid are taxable by the federal government (they are not taxed by the State of New Jersey). They are considered third-party sick pay or other wages, and it is your responsibility to report the information on your employee’s W-2. You should also let your employee know where the information is listed on the W-2.
When people apply for Temporary Disability or Family Leave Insurance benefits, we look at all their employment in the last 52 weeks before taking leave. Those wages are used to calculate benefits.
If your former employee's last day of work was more than 14 days before their first day of disability, the claim will be processed by the Disability During Unemployment program. Claims filed under this program are governed by both the Unemployment Compensation Law and the Temporary Disability Benefits Laws. To qualify for benefits under this program, your former employee must meet all the requirements of the Unemployment Compensation Law with the exception of abilitiy to work.
When processing these claims it is sometimes necessary for us to investigate why your former employee no longer works for you. This is true even if you are not a covered NJ employer (such as a Board of Education) or are an out of state employer. You may receive a phone call or a form to gather the information we need to determine a claim.
If you are not a covered NJ employer or are an out of state employer, the wages your former employee earned with you will not be used to establish the benefit amount on a Disability During Unemployment claim. Also, note that Disability During Unemployment does not charge employers for benefits paid and these benefits do not impact your experience rating.
We need the date of the first check and the monthly gross amount.
Family Leave Insurance, like Temporary Disability Insurance, is a partial wage replacement program. Benefits can only be issued for periods that your employee was out of work for bonding or care and not paid by you. A Family Leave extension form called an FL3 is sent to your employee. The front of the form has sections for your employee and, if necessary, the healthcare provider to complete. The back page has the schedule. Your employee should give you the schedule to confirm the leave period that was taken. It must be completed and signed AFTER the leave period has been taken.
No, Family Leave Insurance does not have a chargeable employer.
Any paid time off that your employee receives can reduce or block a payment from us, since your employee has not lost wages. Paid time off does not reduce the total number of days (42 days) that your employee can receive during the benefit year.
The Law allows employers to reduce the total number of days that their employee can receive, up to 2 weeks (or 14 days) as long as the employee receives paid time off for those days. That entitlement reduction should be reported on the application.
You are not responsible for reporting Family Leave Insurance on your employees W-2.
In January of each year, Form 1099-G for Family Leave Insurance benefits is available online for all claimants who received Family Leave Insurance during the preceding year. Family Leave Insurance benefits are taxable by the federal government (they are not taxed by the State of New Jersey).
