Family and employment lawyers are closely watching proposed changes to the New Jersey Family Leave Act, recently unveiled by the state Division on Civil Rights, which would factor COVID-19’s impact on families by broadening the definition of “family leave” and who can take one.

The division contends the amendments reflect the need to change to meet the times—in this case, where quarantines due to illness, school closures, and other circumstances brought on by the global pandemic became a part of life.