Paid Family and Medical Leave Program.
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The Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program provides partial wage replacement to employees on leave for specified family and medical reasons. ?An eligible employee may access paid family or medical leave benefits for a qualifying event if the employee worked at least 820 hours during a qualifying year.? The 820 hours can be satisfied in one or more positions with one or more employers.? Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of medical leave or family leave, or up to 16 to 18 weeks of combined medical and family leave in a year.?
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Premium.? The PFML Program is funded through premiums paid by employers and employees.? Employers collect the premium on each employee's taxable wages and remit the funds to the Employment Security Department (ESD) on a quarterly basis, which are then deposited into the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Account. ?
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The total premium rate for combined family leave and medical leave benefits is established through a statutory formula and adjusted annually by the ESD.? The total premium for 2025 is 0.92 percent of taxable wages, of which 71.52 percent is allocated to employees and 28.48 percent is allocated to employers, except employers with fewer than 50 employees are not required to pay the premium.?
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Employment Protection.? An employer must restore an employee who returns from leave to the same or equivalent job if the employer has 50 or more employees, and the employee worked for the employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before taking leave.? An employer must also maintain existing health benefits for an employee receiving PFML Program benefits if they have at least one day of overlap with leave taken protected by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.?
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Grants.? Employers with 150 or fewer employees may apply for a grant through the ESD.? The amount of the grant varies, as follows:?
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An employer may not receive types of both grants, except that an employer who received a wage-related costs grant may receive a grant of the difference between wage-related costs grant and $3,000 if the employee extended their leave beyond what was initially planned, and the employer subsequently hired a temporary worker for the employee on leave.? An employer may apply for a grant no more than 10 times per calendar year and no more than once for each employee on leave.?
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If an employer with fewer than 50 employees receives a grant, the ESD must assess the employer for all premiums for three years.?
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Grants are paid for with premium funds from the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Account.?
The eligibility for grants in the PFMLA Program is expanded.? An employer classified as a second class school district may apply for a grant, which includes any school district with fewer than 2,000 students.?