They’re two separate things that are easy to confuse. Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) and Family Leave Insurance (FLI) are state wage-replacement programs — they pay a portion of an employee’s wages (up to 85%, capped at $1,119 per week in 2026) but do not, on their own, guarantee the employee’s job back. Job protection comes from laws like FMLA and the NJFLA, which require you to reinstate the employee to the same or an equivalent position. An employee may be entitled to the pay, the protection, both, or neither depending on the circumstances — and recent changes now extend job protection to more workers using state benefits. Coordinating the two correctly is where many employers slip up.
