Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave

Eligible employees can take leave to:

 

Employees may be entitled to one of the following leaves each year:

 

During the leave period, eligible employees may receive up to 90 percent of their average weekly wage depending on their average earnings in a period of time prior to their leave, to a weekly maximum of $1,427 for claims initiated in 2023 and increasing to $1,456 for 2024. The minimum weekly benefit is $100. 

 

* Two additional weeks when the leave is for incapacitation due to pregnancy complications; this may extend the total combined paid family and medical leave benefit up to 18 weeks.

To qualify for paid benefits, the employee must have worked at least 820 hours in WA for any employer before applying for leave. Benefits are calculated based on the two highest quarters from either of the following time periods: the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters OR the last 4 completed calendar quarters (about 16 hours per week on average). All paid work in WA over the course of the qualifying period counts toward the 820-hour minimum, including part-time, seasonal, and temporary work. 

 

While receiving benefits, an employee may also be entitled to job protection if their employer has 50 or more employees. Under the state plan, an employee must have worked for that employer 12 months and have 1250 hours worked in the prior 52 weeks.

 

Temporary COVID-19 Assistance: Washington’s PFML law was temporarily amended to provide leave assistance grants to certain workers who did not meet the hours worked eligibility requirement due to COVID-19 impacts. Employees can begin to apply to the state for these grants August 1, 2021. The grants apply to leaves with an effective start date in 2021 through March 31, 2022. Certain small employers participating in the state program may also be eligible for grants to defray the costs of employees out on leave. The temporary grant program expires June 30, 2023, subject to the availability of federal funding.

Businesses and organizations of all sizes are required to participate, whether in the state program or a voluntary plan. Exceptions include:

 

You may request a waiver of premium for employees who are:

 

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees in WA are not required to pay the employer portion, but still must collect and remit the employee portion to the state.

You can opt out of either the state family leave and/or the state medical leave plan if you have a state-approved voluntary paid-leave program that offers comparable or more generous benefits than the state plan. Once you are approved to self-fund a voluntary plan, all contributions from the first of the month in the quarter following the approval can go toward your voluntary plan instead of the state plan.

 

We are offering Administrative Services Only (ASO) on employers’ self-funded plans for the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave program. While employers with private plans are expected to be able to access certain information from the state, they may experience challenges in getting this information in a timely and efficient manner. Therefore, we believe the ASO approach, at this time, will reduce those challenges for employers rather than splitting benefits between a private plan and the State.