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Washington Legislators Pass Expansive Paid Leave Plan


Yesterday, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill into law which makes Washington the fifth state to guarantee paid family leave.  Beginning in 2020, the bill offers eligible employees 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious medical condition of the worker or the worker's family member.  Taking it one step further, the bill allows for 16 weeks of paid time off for a combination of both.  In addition, eligible employees may use an additional 2 weeks if there is a serious health condition with a pregnancy.

Of course, there are some details that employers and employees in the state should note.  Employees must work at least 820 hours before they qualify for the paid leave.  In addition, both employers and employees will pay into the system (to help fund the paid leave) and weekly benefits will be calculated based upon a percentage of the employee's wages and the state's weekly average wage (currently at $1,082.00).  However, the weekly amount paid out would be capped at $1,000.00/week.  For those employees who earn less than the state average, they would receive 90% of their income.  Although for those self employed individuals who elect for coverage will only be required to pay the employee share of the premiums.

For those employers with 50 or fewer employees, this bill exempts them from paying the employer share.  As for employers in the state that already offer paid leave, they will be allowed to opt out, so long as their paid leave plans are equivalent to this new program.

It goes without saying that Washington has certainly taken a giant leap to the forefront of the paid leave discussion.  Employers who were (or maybe still are) worried about how expansive this paid leave plan is will at least have a few years to coordinate things and ensure compliance with the bill.  Beginning January 1, 2019, premiums of .4% of wages will start to be collected with .63% paid by employees and .37% paid by employers.

As always, it will be interesting to see if this move by Washington pushes any other states to pass similar paid leave legislation...


 

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