Overview. Washington joins California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York and Washington, D.C. in providing workers with paid family leave. Under Washington’s Family Leave Act leave benefits will be paid for by contributions from both employers and employees through payroll taxes, and covered workers will be eligible to take the paid time off starting in 2020.
Effective Date. Program funding will begin in January 2019, and eligible employees will be able to start exercising their right to paid, job protected, leave on January 1, 2020.
Details. Starting in 2020, eligible female and male employees will receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child or for their own or a family member's serious medical condition—or 16 weeks for a combination of both. Female workers may receive an additional two weeks (up to 18 weeks total) if they have a serious health condition related to pregnancy. Employees must work at least 820 hours during the last year to qualify for the benefit.
Employer and Employee Contributions
Unlike New York’s program, which requires employers to purchase private insurance policies, and provides that premiums will be offset by deductions from employees’ pay, the Washington paid leave program will be regulated by the state, and will be paid for through employee and employer contributions that will start in January 2019. Workers can begin taking the paid time off in 2020. The premium will be 0.4 percent of wages—employees will pay 63 percent and employers will contribute 37 percent. The actual benefit will be calculated based on a percentage of the employee's weekly earnings and the state's average weekly wage (which is currently $1,082) with a $1,000 weekly cap. Small businesses with 50 or fewer employees and businesses that offer their own comparable plans will be able to opt out of the state-run program.
State Legislation Trend
While the current Presidential administration has indicated its intent to provide federally protected leave, the activity to-date has been at the state level. In fact, New Jersey legislators recently approved a measure to double the state's paid-sick-leave time from 6 to 12 weeks.
For more information about this, and other, paid leave laws, please contact your Relationship Manager or Service Team.