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Did you know NJ is one of just 11 states with a Paid Family Leave program?

Posted on May 10, 2024

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By Olivia Carrara Leontine Young Fellow

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What is NJ’s Paid Family Leave?

New Jersey is one of the only 11 states that mandates paid family leave. In its basic form, NJ’s family leave program is financed by worker payroll deductions. These finances are provided to parents through the NJ Family Leave Insurance (FLI), which offers up to 12 continuous weeks, or 56 intermittent days, of leave at 85% of a worker’s salary. The maximum reimbursement rate for FLI in 2024 is $1,055 per week.

While FLI ensures wage replacement, it does not guarantee job protection. The New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) is the state’s 12-week unpaid leave job-protection program which does in fact protect parents from being fired or demoted during time off. NJFLA is mandatory for all businesses with 30 or more employees.

NJ also offers Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to those recovering from birth. This program, also known as Maternity Leave, provides cash benefits equivalent to that of FLI, for 6 weeks following vaginal delivery and 8 weeks following a cesarean delivery. The eligibility requirements for TDI are the same as FLI. 

Who has access?

NJ’s paid family leave is extended to parents of newly born, adopted, fostered, or surrogacy-born children. Employees must have worked at least 20 calendar weeks and earned a total of $13,000 in the base year to qualify for the benefits. Both NJFLA and FLI are offered to both mothers and fathers up to one year following delivery. FLI and TDI are only offered to employees who paid into the programs, while NJFLA is offered to all employees in businesses of 30 or more. 

Why is Paid Family Leave so important?

Paid family leave has numerous benefits for children and families. The primary purpose is to provide time for infants and their caregivers to bond. This is crucial, as the first few weeks of an infant’s life are when babies experience intense brain growth. 

Research has shown that PFL is associated with better infant health, increased breastfeeding, more checkups, and fewer infant deaths and injuries, thus revealing how beneficial PFL can be to infants and their development. PFL helps infants thrive in the first few weeks of life, which is strongly correlated with becoming well-adjusted, productive adults.

How can NJ improve its Paid Family Leave and Job Protection?
Many parents report having difficulty obtaining paid family leave. Parents interviewed by ACNJ’s parent leadership council reported that the application is difficult to navigate and the process as a whole is unclear. Others mentioned that they attempted to contact customer service and were never able to reach someone, and some mentioned not receiving their payments for months after their leave. These interviews helped reveal potential areas of improvement within NJ’s PFL program.

Parents shared that once they received PFL they were incredibly grateful for the opportunity it gave them to bond with their child, while not having to worry about finances. Despite this, the parents hoped that NJ would improve their PFL application and begin to more widely promote the program, in general. Some of the interviewed parents felt as though there was not enough awareness of the program, leading to families missing out on utilizing this program and having time with their new child. 

While NJ’s Paid Family Leave program is incredibly helpful to parents throughout the state, its benefits are limited when the program is not made widely accessible. It is crucial that the state and individuals promote the program so parents and employees can better access the benefits and children can have a caregiver at home during their first few weeks of life. 

To learn more about leave benefits, visit the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development website.

Read our latest updates on maternal and infant health

ACNJ Participates in Child Care Site Visit/Roundtable with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (CD-11)

Posted on April 29, 2024

ACNJ staff members (Shadaya Bennett and Keith Hadad) participated in a congressional site visit and round table discussion on child care workforce compensation at Sandy Lane Nursery in Belleville with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (CD-11), Assemblywoman Carmen Morales and Assemblyman Michael Venezia. Organized by New Jersey Association for the Education of Young Children (NJAEYC), the visit provided an opportunity for child care providers to discuss the need for increased funding to support child care providers. 

As Meghan Tavormina, the Director of Public Policy for NJAEYC, pointed out at the meeting, the recent increase of $725 million for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (federal)—of which allows our state to assist low-income, working families in affording child care—is a crucial step forward, but it is still just the early stages of mending a long history of inadequate federal funding.

Tavormina and Sandy Lane’s faculty and staff went on to explain how high overhead costs for running child care programs, rising inflation and the elimination of Federal financial assistance are forcing centers to keep their employees severely underpaid and thereby worsening the current child care staffing crisis.

Commenting on this for a video that was filmed at the site visit, ACNJ’s Senior Legislative Analyst, Shadaya Bennett, said “We need targeted funding and policy investments to support the industry to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce. The average salary for child care workers is $32,000, which are poverty wages in our state. Providers need support to be able to compensate the workforce based on their skills and the value they bring to our children and society.”

Congresswoman Sherrill spoke to the importance of quality education in the earliest developmental years of a child’s life—as well as the financial toll on young parents when they are unable to work due to a lack of affordable child care.

The Congresswoman is co-leading the Child Care Stabilization Act to extend the initial child care stabilization funds that she fought to have included in the American Rescue Plan for another five years. To make an even greater impact, she also introduced the Child Care for Every Community Act in The House (federal). Led by Senator Elizabeth Warren [D-MA], the bill would establish a network of federally supported, locally administered child care options to expand access to affordable yet high-quality and early learning opportunities and care.

“In addition to ensuring that childcare is affordable for every family, this bill invests in child care workers by requiring that wages and benefits for [early] child care educators be comparable to those of similarly credentialed local public school teachers and invest in worker training and professional development modeled after the military child care program,” said Sherrill.

Did you know reports of bias-based incidents in N.J. schools have increased by 400% since 2018?

Posted on April 29, 2024

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By Olivia Carrara Leontine Young Fellow

For more information on this topic, contact ACNJ's staff attorney, Nina Peckman, Esq., at npeckman@acnj.org.

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Since 2013, the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Task Force has been collecting and reporting data on the prevalence of harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) in N.J. schools. The newest report, released at the end of 2023, has revealed that N.J. HIB levels are higher than they have ever been since N.J. started collecting data. The data showed that during the 2021-2022 school year, 7,672 HIB incidents were confirmed while a total of 19,138 investigations were reported. 

The rates of bullying in N.J. schools are trending upward, with most rapid increases in bias-based incidents. Since 2018, reports of such incidents have quadrupled in N.J. schools, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (N.J. OAG). These reports include incidents of hate speech, harmful rhetoric, and other bias-related forms of HIB. The N.J. OAG also found that reports of bias-based incidents in elementary and secondary schools increased by 116% between 2020 and 2021. This drastic increase is likely attributed to the return to school following remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, but still reveals alarming rates of bias-related incidents. Over the last few years, the US Departments of Education and Justice have had to issue reminders to schools on their obligation to address incidents targeting Muslim, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Jewish, LGBTQ+, and immigrant students. This confirms an increased risk for these populations–a risk which is often exacerbated by national and global events. According to ADL, anti-semitic incidents in non-Jewish K-12 schools have increased by 49% between 2021 and 2022 in the U.S. The Covid-19 pandemic, another global event, led to an increase in hate crimes targeted towards the AAPI community, with STOP AAPI HATE reporting that over 8 out of 10 Asian American youth experienced bullying or verbal harassment in 2020. As per the Trevor Project, in 2020, 52% of LGBTQ+ youth enrolled in US middle and high schools reported being bullied–something that likely stems from an increase in anti-transgender rhetoric and legislation.

Per the 2023 State Report, the drastic increase in HIB cases may be the result of a number of factors, one of them being unhealthy school cultures. Children thrive more and HIB decreases when school cultures are welcoming and safe for students of all races, ethnicities, sexual and gender identities, and disabilities. The lack of a welcoming presence is therefore thought to contribute to increased bullying and unsafe environments for students. The Covid-19 pandemic may have also played a role in increased HIB reports, as reports have shown the pandemic had numerous negative effects on the mental health and wellness of many children. Another potential contributor to this drastic rise in HIB incidents is the increase in hate crimes and speech throughout the country. Transphobia, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other discriminatory mindsets have increased nationally within the last few years, likely contributing to hateful and harmful rhetoric within schools. 

The 2023 State Report concludes with a series of recommendations spanning from broadening the language surrounding bullying to mandating training for all coaches and extra-curricular school-based staff/volunteers. To prevent bullying, student suicide, and unsafe school environments, the recommendations presented by the Task Force should be evaluated and implemented as needed. 

ACNJ is proud to have a KidLaw Resource Center focused on providing free legal support to kids who experience bullying or face other educational issues. To learn more, please view this presentation on HIB by ACNJ’s staff attorney, Nina Peckman, Esq.

Read our latest updates on KidLaw

ACNJ and U.S. Rep Gottheimer Host Roundtable to Discuss Child Care Funding as Federal COVID-Relief Runs Out

Posted on April 26, 2024

Federal dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) Stabilization Grants kept child care centers from closing, but the temporary aid, which expired in September 2023, was a short-term fix to a long-standing problem and robust funding is needed to create a sustainable child care infrastructure, according to advocates at a roundtable hosted by Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) and U.S. Congressman Gottheimer (NJ-5)

Held at the Little Learners Child Development Center in Hackensack, the event highlighted New Jersey's and our nation's fractured child care system. Many providers struggle to sustain high-quality early childhood education while also paying child care workers competitive wages and keeping tuition affordable for parents. And once providers run out of the COVID-Relief funds they will be faced with decisions that will impact the child care workforce, parents and ultimately the economy.

Recent survey findings of more than 100 NJ child care providers revealed that the federal child care stabilization aid not only allowed centers to remain open, but 89% of respondents also said they were able to apply the aid towards personnel costs and increased staff wages.

"Now, four years later, we are still trying to bounce back from COVID: maxing to our facility's capacity, hiring not only credible but dedicated staff, and recuperating the income loss. We greatly appreciate [the COVID-relief aid] given to our center, but it can't stop there, we still need more help," said Dawn Cleveland, Owner and Director at Little Learners Child Development Center. "Being a high quality child care center within New Jersey is far from easy, with the weight of trying to compete with our center's tuition prices, the cost of supplies, and the biggest struggle: staffing our classrooms."

"It's time to move beyond addressing the COVID‐related emergencies in child care and truly develop solutions addressing wage compensation and a sustainable early childhood system. Without the ARP federal dollars, it is estimated that about 1,300 programs in New Jersey will close, impacting 104,000 children and 6,800 teachers. The economic impact translates to about $378 million in lost earnings for parents, a $453 million decrease in employer productivity, and $18 million less in state income tax," said Shadaya Bennett, ACNJ senior legislative analyst.

“Given how important child care is to our children, families, and communities, you’d think that we’d be flush with daycares and nurseries. But, the reason why we’re all here today is that child care in Jersey is actually hard-to-come-by these days – and it’s incredibly expensive,” Gottheimer said. “I’m excited to convene today’s roundtable with child care providers and advocates to discuss the challenges facing Jersey’s child care system and share more about my work in Congress to make childcare more affordable, especially the urgent need to pass bipartisan legislation expanding the Child Tax Credit. It passed the House overwhelmingly and now it’s waiting for a vote in the Senate.”

“ACNJ thanks Congressman Gottheimer for highlighting the need for investment in New Jersey’s child care system. To strengthen and sustain the child care infrastructure, targeted funding is needed to ensure families have access to high-quality options in a system with a skilled workforce dedicated to nurturing our youngest residents."

In response to the looming child care funding shortfall, ACNJ's #NJVotes4Kids budget campaign is calling for state lawmakers to prioritize public investments in early childhood in the upcoming FY2025 budget. To learn more, visit ACNJ.org

 

In the News: Gottheimer hosts childcare roundtable with advocates, providers

Petition to invest in New Jersey’s child care infrastructure

Posted on April 25, 2024

It’s budget season in Trenton. Lawmakers are deciding how to spend public funds for the state’s resources, programs, and services! Add your name to the growing list of parents, caregivers, and advocates urging the state legislature to make strong investments in New Jersey’s child care infrastructure.

By simply providing your name and address, we'll send a postcard to your legislators on your behalf. We will send you a confirmation when it is sent.

Invest in nj child care infrastructure