TRENTON, November 8, 2010 – Workers in New Jersey will find a few more dollars in their pockets in 2011 and the state’s economy should see a $57 million boost as the employee payroll tax rate for the Family Leave Insurance (FLI) program is adjusted downward beginning January 1, 2011.

Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths said, “We have determined that the Family Leave Insurance program does not need to maintain the program’s current tax rate set at 0.12 percent of taxable wages. By cutting the tax rate to 0.06 percent, workers will keep more of their hard-earned wages while maintaining the healthy asset base needed to pay Family Leave Insurance benefits in 2011.”

In 2010, the maximum tax amount each New Jersey worker paid into the FLI program was $35.64. The 2011 maximum withholding for FLI will be $17.76.

In July 2009, The New Jersey Family Leave Insurance program began providing workers up to six weeks of wage replacement benefits. Participating workers receive benefits equal to no more than two-thirds of their weekly pay, up to a maximum weekly benefit of $561 in 2010 ($559 in 2011).

Since the FLI program launched, $83 million in benefits have been provided to more than 37,600 claimants. Of these claims, more than 29,700 or 79 percent were for bonding with a newborn or newly-adopted child; and approximately 7,900 or 21 percent were claims for care of a seriously ill family member.

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