Can Employers Suspend Benefits During Maternity Leave in New Jersey?

Finding out the big news comes with enough serious decisions on its own. The last thing you should have to worry about is if your employer can cut off health insurance, or if your benefits will still be there at all when you return from maternity leave.

In the Garden State, the answer is more protective than many people realize. In many situations, especially when your time off is covered by federal laws, employers must continue certain benefits… and singling out pregnant workers for worse treatment can violate the state’s own legal framework. 

Let’s walk through how maternity leave works, what employers can and cannot suspend, what counts as bias in this context, and why it might be a wise decision to talk with a pregnancy discrimination lawyer in New Jersey when your rights are threatened.

How Maternity Leave Works in New Jersey: Are Employers Allowed to Suspend Benefits?

In New Jersey, what people commonly call “maternity leave” is not a single law. It is often a combination of several federal and state protections working together, each serving a different purpose. Understanding how these layers fit together helps explain what protections apply to your job, your pay, and your benefits — both while you are out and while you are still working. 

At a broad level, multiple systems could apply at the same time.

Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees of covered employers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for certain reasons, including the birth of a child and the employee’s own serious health condition. 

That protection can be especially important in the context of complications, recovery after childbirth, or high-risk pregnancies, where modified arrangements such as remote work may be necessary.

While on FMLA, employers must continue group health insurance coverage under the same terms as if the employee were still working.

New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA).

The New Jersey Family Leave Act offers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a 24-month period to bond with a new child or care for certain family members with serious health conditions. 

Like FMLA, it requires employers to maintain health insurance coverage during the time off on the same conditions as active employment.

New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI).

New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance is a state wage-replacement program that pays partial income when an employee cannot work due to pregnancy, childbirth recovery, or another non-work-related medical condition. 

It does not provide job protection, but it helps replace lost wages during medical recovery.

New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (FLI).

New Jersey Family Leave Insurance is a separate state program that provides partial wage replacement while an employee takes time off to bond with a new child or care for certain family members. Like TDI, it focuses on income support rather than job protection.

NJLAD and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination, strengthened by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. 

The law not only requires reasonable accommodations, but also prohibits employers from retaliating after pregnancy disclosure: including by altering benefits, leave practices, schedules, or other terms and conditions of employment in a way that treats the employee less favorably.

In addition, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires covered employers to provide reasonable adjustments, even when those limitations do not meet the legal definition of a disability.

Early enforcement data shows how often these obligations are being challenged. In the first 11 months after the PWFA went into effect, employees filed 1,869 federal charges alleging that employers refused, delayed, or failed to provide required adjustments. 

Some of these laws focus on protecting your job and benefits, which can be especially important if you were fired or demoted after maternity leave. Others help replace lost income. NJLAD brings these protections together by making it unlawful for employers to treat workers more harshly because of medical needs or family-related responsibilities.

Your actual time off may involve a combination of:

• A period of pregnancy-related disability (often covered by TDI and possibly FMLA).
• Bonding time once your baby is born (possibly covered by FMLA, NJFLA, and FLI).

Throughout that time, it is common to be on some mix of paid and unpaid leave, sometimes overlapping with these legal protections. But the key question for many workers is simple: can my employer suspend my health insurance or other benefits while I am out?

If you believe your rights have been ignored or violated, speaking with a New Jersey pregnancy discrimination attorney can help you understand what protections apply and what steps you can take next.

Can an Employer Suspend Benefits During Maternity Leave, And Where Health Insurance Fits In: 

When maternity leave is protected by the FMLA, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, or both, the general rule is straightforward: employers are usually required to keep your health insurance in place.

Under federal FMLA regulations, an employer must maintain an employee’s group health coverage on the same terms that would apply if the employee were actively working. In practical terms, this means your coverage should not be downgraded, suspended, or canceled simply because you are taking time away from work. If you had family coverage before your leave began, that coverage should continue. 

There are limited exceptions: for example, if you tell your employer you are not returning, or if your employment would have ended for reasons unrelated (like a reduction in force that would have affected you anyway). But the starting point is strong protection for your health coverage while you are on federal or state leave. 

Other Benefits During Maternity Leave: What Can Change and What Cannot

Health insurance is often the first concern, but it is not the only benefit employees worry about. Questions commonly arise about life and disability insurance, if paid time off continues to accrue, how retirement contributions and vesting are handled, and when bonuses or incentive pay are affected.

Federal regulations allow employers to handle non-health benefits the same way they do for employees on comparable unpaid leaves. In practice, that means an employer may pause PTO accrual, retirement contributions, or similar perks during unpaid time off if it does so consistently for all categories.

For instance, if an employer’s general policy is that PTO does not accrue during any unpaid leave, it may apply that rule during unpaid time off under FMLA. 

Likewise, if retirement contributions are suspended, they may also be paused. Consistency is the key requirement under federal law.

New Jersey law adds an important layer of protection. Under the state law, pregnant employees may not be treated less favorably than other workers who are similar in their ability or inability to work. 

Taken together, a few core principles apply. Employers may generally follow neutral, across-the-board rules. They may not create special carve-outs that strip benefits only during pregnancy or maternity leave while preserving them for other medical or family-related absences. 

Because employer’s decisions during maternity leave often reveal when policies are truly neutral or subtly punitive, both New Jersey and federal law may scrutinize these practices closely.

Pregnancy Discrimination and Suspended Benefits: How New Jersey Law Applies

New Jersey’s protections are not merely aspirational. In recent years, the state has significantly expanded both the reach and enforcement of its pregnancy discrimination laws.

Through amendments to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, including the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, employers are affirmatively required to provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would create an undue hardship. 

Many of these accommodations are simple and inexpensive, such as temporary job modifications, schedule adjustments, alternative assignments, or practical workplace changes like parking accommodations that reduce physical strain.

The law makes clear that employers may not punish, sideline, or disadvantage employees because they are pregnant or because they request or use related accommodations. 

Discrimination can occur through changes to the “terms, conditions, or privileges of employment”: a category that clearly includes access to benefits. Suspending, reducing, or conditioning them can therefore raise serious legal concerns under New Jersey law.

Enforcement is not theoretical. In 2025 New Jersey’s Attorney General filed a high-profile lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the employer discriminated against pregnant and disabled warehouse workers by denying accommodations and forcing them onto unpaid leave, in violation of state laws. 

The case underscores that regulators are closely watching how employers treat pregnant workers, particularly when simple, low-cost adjustments could have kept them working.

In the benefits context, discrimination may look like:

• Cutting health insurance mid-pregnancy while continuing coverage for employees on comparable medical leave.
• Denying access to accrued sick time or PTO when it is allowed for temporary conditions of other workers.
• Refusing to restore benefits when those are reinstated for employees returning from similar leave.

Benefits and accommodations are not separate from discrimination law. When an employer refuses modest adjustments, or uses reductions, premium increases, or loss of coverage to sideline or penalize an employee, that conduct may qualify as unlawful discrimination, not a neutral business decision.

Your Right to a Protected Leave

Welcoming a child is a major life moment, and New Jersey law is designed to make sure it does not jeopardize your job or your family’s financial stability. Taking maternity leave is not a loophole that allows an employer to strip away the perks you have earned. 

Knowing the lawful protections exist allows you to focus on what truly matters: your health, your family, and preparing for the next chapter ahead.

If you have concerns about lost benefits, contact us to discuss your situation and learn what options may be available.