How each state’s paid family leave law is unique
The United States does not have a nationwide paid family leave law. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides leave on an unpaid basis to eligible employees who work at covered employers.
In the absence of any federal law, a growing number of states have enacted laws that provide paid family leave benefits. Each law is different. The states have set different rules defining who will be eligible for leave, the circumstances when they will be eligible, and the benefits available to them.
Paid family leave (PFL) laws typically have a few things in common, and key differences:
Weekly Benefit Amount. PFL laws provide benefits to employees based on a defined percentage of their wages, up to a maximum weekly amount.
Qualifying Reasons for Leave. Each law provides paid leave benefits, or wage replacement benefits without explicit job protection, for different reasons. Those reasons generally can include:
Serious Health Conditions. The employee’s own serious health condition or off-the-job injury or illness. California, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island have state disability benefit programs that provide wage replacement for residents when they experience non-work injuries. Other jurisdictions (including DC, Massachusetts, Washington) provide leave for a serious health condition through the state’s PFL law.
Caring for Others. Caring for a covered family member or other designated individual with a serious health condition. The family members covered will vary by state. The FMLA only applies to parent, child, and spousal relationships, including step and adoptive relationships. Notably, the FMLA does not provide leave to care for a sibling, grandparent, or grandchild. PFL laws are typically broader and often cover spouses and domestic partners, children, parents, siblings or step siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren. A newer trend in PFL and sick leave laws is to allow employees to take time off to care for any individual related by blood of affinity whose relationship is equivalent to family.
Bonding Leave. Time off to bond with a newborn is at the heart of paid leave laws. Both birth parents and non-birth parents are eligible for this leave in all states. In four jurisdictions (Connecticut, DC Oregon, Washington) the birth parent can take an additional two weeks of leave if needed to recover from the pregnancy.
Safe Leave. Some states provide paid “safe” leave to victims of domestic violence. Laws that provide leave to victims give time off for a wide variety of reasons connected to the situation, including to obtain legal or law enforcement assistance, to seek medical treatment or recover from injuries, to obtain counseling or support services, or to relocate or take other steps to secure the health and safety of themselves or their dependent child.
Military Leave. PFL laws may provide paid time off for qualifying exigencies connected to military service or to care for a member of the military recovering from a service-related injury or illness.
Intermittent Leave. Some states allow employees to use PFL intermittently in different increments, such as an hour or a day. In other states, it must be used continuously.
Length of Benefits. The length of the leave benefits varies depending on the state. And in each state, the number of weeks available can depend on the reason for the time off. Rhode Island currently provides the shortest amount of time of (6 weeks). On the other end of the spectrum, employees in Washington can benefit from a total of 18 weeks of leave and 26 weeks can be available under certain circumstances in Massachusetts.
Coverage and Eligibility. Many PFL laws apply broadly to almost every employer in the state. Eligibility is often limited to employees who has earned a minimum threshold of wages in the state. For example, in Oregon, the employee must have earned $1,000 in the state to be eligible.
Each law differs on these key provisions. The deviations from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction can make it difficult for HR and payroll professionals to manage time off and compensation for employees on leave, especially if the employer has its own paid parental leave program: the employer needs to know how much money the employee will earn from the state, the terms under which the employee can take leave, and the length of leave benefits.
Visit our other blog posts to learn more about state leave laws.
