Employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for your medical care, or to care for your child, parent or spouse with a serious health condition, or to care for a newborn, or newly adopted child. 

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• To be eligible under the Federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a company must have at least 50 employees and you must have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours over the last 12 months. 

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• To be eligible under the NJ FMLA, a company must have over 30 employees and you must have worked for the employer for at least 1,000 hours and a minimum of one year. Eligible employees can also take up to twenty days of leave in a twelve-month period to care for family members who are the victims of sexually violent offenses or domestic violence. Employers who have at least twenty-five employees are required to provide domestic violence leave.

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     If eligible, it is illegal for your employer to interfere with your rights or discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising your rights. But, unless a company has a policy that states otherwise, family and medical leaves are unpaid. However, employees are entitled to continue their health benefits at the same cost they paid while working. In most instances, employees are entitled to be reinstated to their prior position or similar position at the end of their leave. 

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     You have 2 years to file a FMLA discrimination lawsuit.