A handful of new state paid family and medical leave laws come into effect in 2026, bringing with them new compliance checklists for employers.
“First and foremost, employers need to be aware of where they have employees,” Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, member of the firm at Epstein Becker & Green, told HR Dive. “It’s really important with a distributed workforce to have accurate records of where they have employees working. Most of these paid family medical leave laws will apply even if you have one employee working in that state.”
She recommends employers establish a policy for remote workers including that an employee has an affirmative obligation to tell their employer when they move to a new state, so that the employer can stay on top of any legal requirement.
Generally, most paid family medical leave laws require some sort of premium to be paid into the state fund — either through required deductions on employee wages or via an employer paying a certain amount on the employee’s behalf, she said.
The logistics, she said, can be tricky.
“Each state is a little bit different,” Gunzenhauser Popper said. “There are different eligibility periods. There are different reasons for use. There are different periods of time that employees can be out and the amount of pay that employees are receiving.”
Some states, for example, have voluntary programs, like Vermont, she said.
“I think more and more states are considering these,” Gunzenhauser Popper said, adding that other states will likely watch how other efforts play out, learn from those programs and propose their own legislation.
Gunzenhauser Popper and her colleagues outlined some of the recent state paid leave changes affecting employers in a recent blog post, summarized below.
Colorado
As of Jan. 1, Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, which covers all private employers, expanded to entitle eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of paid leave when their child is in a neonatal unit or receiving a higher level of care. This is in addition to the 12 weeks of paid leave they’re permitted under FAMLI for other qualifying reasons, such as medical leave or parental bonding.
Delaware
Delaware’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program, known as Delaware Paid Leave, went into effect on Jan. 1, with a handful of last-minute amendments added last month.
Notably, as Littler experts explain, the amended regulations change the definition of the application year used to determine benefit enrollment. Rather than mirroring the set 12-month period allowed under the Family and Medical Leave Act, Delaware Paid Leave uses a “rolling forward 12-month period” that begins the date an employee first uses any Delaware PFML leave.
The “late-stage timing of the changes” is challenging, Littler experts said, because many employers had already drafted and published Delaware PFML policies prior to the amendments being published in anticipation of benefits starting Jan. 1.
Delaware Paid Family Leave also prohibits employers from making workers use accrued paid time off, including vacation and sick leave, before applying for the state leave benefits. “Employers and employees can, however, still agree to use PTO to supplement or ‘top off’ Delaware Paid Leave benefits,” Epstein Becker & Green experts said.
Maine
Although they started payroll deductions last year, employers still have a bit of time before the Paid Family and Medical Leave law goes into effect May 1. Under the PFML, nearly all employers will have to provide paid family and medical leave; “the law applies to all private employers that employ at least one individual in Maine, no matter the employer’s size,” Epstein Becker & Green experts said. The law provides workers in the private and public sector with up to 12 weeks of paid time off, funded through employer and employee contributions.
However, to be eligible for benefits, workers must meet an earnings threshold and have been employed by their company for at least 120 consecutive days prior to the leave.
Maryland
The Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance program is set to begin offering benefits in January 2028, with contributions beginning a year earlier. However, the program has been postponed several times.
Under MD FAMLI, eligible workers will receive leave and benefits for five reasons, including parental and medical leave. The regulations have not yet been finalized but do include proposals for weekly benefits to be tied to inflation, Epstein Becker & Green experts said.
Minnesota
Benefits under Minnesota Paid Leave began Jan. 1 and are available for nearly all employees under the state’s family and medical leave program.
MPL guarantees eligible workers 12 weeks of medical leave for a serious health condition and up to 12 weeks of family leave. Workers can use up to 20 weeks of combined medical leave and family leave in one benefit year, Epstein Becker & Green experts said.
Epstein Becker & Green experts note that MPL is separate from the state’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act and its Parental Leave Act.
Washington
An amendment to the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave law expanded job restoration rights starting Jan. 1 to employers of 25 or more workers. The law now requires employers “to provide job restoration for eligible employees returning from PFML and/or unpaid, protected FMLA leave, regardless of whether the employee applied for state benefits,” Epstein Becker & Green experts said.
