No.

The qualifying reasons for WA PFML include all of the following reasons:

Paid Family Leave:

• To bond with a child during the first 12 months after the child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement;
• To care for a family member’s serious health condition;
• A qualifying military exigency arising out of a family member’s active duty or impending call to active duty in the armed forces; and
• Bereavement leave following the death of a family member for whom the covered individual would have qualified for medical leave for the child’s birth or for family leave to bond during the first 12 months following the birth, placement or adoption.

Paid Medical Leave:

• The covered individual’s own serious health condition that incapacitates the individual from performing the essential functions of the individual’s job, or post-natal leave for the first six weeks following the birth of a child.

Family member means the following:

• The covered individual’s spouse or state registered domestic partner.
• The covered individual’s child and child’s spouse.
• The parent or grandparent of the covered individual or covered individual’s spouse or domestic partner.
• A grandchild or sibling of the covered individual.
• Any person who regularly resides in the covered individual’s home with an expectation that the covered individual care for the person, or any person whose relationship with the employee creates an expectation of care and that the person depends on the covered individual for such care.
• Note that “child” and “parent” includes biological, adopted, foster, step, legal guardian, de facto or in loco parentis relationships.

The Taxable Wage Base for benefits and contributions is capped at the Social Security Maximum of $168,600 for 2024.

The State Average Weekly Wage is $1,618 and is updated annually.

Washington refers to this as the “claim year,” though we often use the term “benefit year.” The benefit year is defined as the period of 52 consecutive weeks beginning on the Sunday immediately preceding the first day that the covered individual files a complete initial application for WA PFML Benefits (except for a bonding claim where it is the period of 52 weeks beginning on the date of birth or placement). We consider this to be a 12-month rolling forward basis.

Yes. Any successive periods of WA PFML caused by the same or related injury or sickness are deemed a “continued claim” if separated by less than four consecutive weeks.

Yes. Leave is allowed on an intermittent schedule, but the minimum claim duration for each week is eight consecutive hours of leave (equivalent to one day for full-time employees but might be more than one day if the employee works part-time).

The WA PFML benefit will be prorated in accordance with the actual time (hours or days) taken as leave compared to the covered individual’s typical workweek hours.

• Yes. Job protection provisions apply for covered individuals IF the employer has 50 or more employees and if the covered individual qualifies:
  • Under the state plan: The individual must have worked at least 12 months with the employer and 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding leave; and
  • Under a voluntary plan: The individual must have worked for the employer for at least nine months and 965 hours in 12 months immediately preceding leave.
• An employer may deny restoration to the same or equivalent position to any salaried employee among the 10% highest paid employees employed by the employer within 75 miles of the facility at which the employee is employed.
• The employer’s share of health insurance benefits must be paid during a period of leave at the level and under the same conditions of coverage that would have been provided if the covered individual continued working continuously for the duration of the qualified leave if any part of the leave is also covered by the FMLA.
• A covered individual who returns to work after a qualified leave retains the right to accrue employee benefits at the same level the employee had prior to taking the leave.
• Employers are also prohibited from retaliating against employees who apply for or take WA PFML.
• As noted, if the covered individual takes WA PFML, FMLA will run concurrently if the leave is covered by both laws. However, a covered individual may elect to defer WA PFML – and the job protection it offers - until a later date while taking leave under the FMLA.

WA PFML does not use the term “accrued paid leave,” but it does include the concept under “supplemental benefit payments.”

Other payments can be made to a covered individual concurrently with WA PFML to “top off” the WA PFML benefit up to 100% of the employee’s Average Weekly Wage, without any reduction to the WA PFML benefit. This is only allowed if the employer designates such payments as a “supplemental benefit payment” which can include, but is not limited to, what we often refer to as “accrued paid leave” such as salary continuation, vacation leave, sick leave, or other paid time off. If the sum of the supplemental benefit payments paid to an employee and the gross WA PFML benefit exceeds 100% of the employee’s Average Weekly Wage, the excess will be used to reduce the WA PFML benefit. Other payments not designated as “supplemental benefit payments” will be considered direct offsets and reduce the WA PFML benefit.

The employer cannot require an employee to use supplemental benefit payments during WA PFML leave and cannot require an employee to take WA PFML for a covered leave reason.

Postnatal leave is leave taken by the birth mother in the first six weeks following the birth of a child. It will be counted as PML except when:

• PML is fully or partially exhausted prior to the birth; or
• If the covered individual chooses to use WA PFL, if available, for the postnatal period.

Birth mothers taking leave during the postnatal period are not required to provide a medical certification of a serious health condition.

• A voluntary plan MUST be filed and approved IN ADVANCE by the Employment Security Department (ESD). The voluntary plan will be effective on first day of the calendar quarter following approval.
• Symetra can help you with any questions you may have on the exemption process. In general, the voluntary plan application, which can be found at https://paidleave.wa.gov/voluntary-plans/, includes a three-step process:
  • Submit the voluntary plan application online;
  • Upload the employer’s self-funded voluntary plan document; and
  • Pay the $250 voluntary plan application fee online.
• The voluntary plan must be equal to or better than the state plan, with no greater burden or hardship to the employee. The employee cannot be required to pay more for the voluntary plan than they would have paid under the state plan, though the employer can always pay more.
• A voluntary plan must be in place for at least one year after it has been accepted by the ESD. For the first three years, the ESD will review the voluntary plan annually to ensure it still meets the requirements of the program. After three years, the employer only needs to resubmit it if the employer makes a change that is not legally required. If the employer makes additional changes to the voluntary plan that are not legally required, the employer may need to submit a new application and fee.
• A voluntary plan can be withdrawn by an employer with 30 days’ notice to the ESD. The plan is then withdrawn at the beginning of the next calendar quarter after that 30-day period. An employers must notify their employees within five days if a voluntary plan is terminated or withdrawn.

Please visit voluntary plans – Washington State's Paid Family and Medical Leave for more requirements regarding the private plan exemption process and the link to the voluntary plan application.

Employers must file reports with the ESD under their Paid Leave accounts under Secure Access Washington. The required fields on the report include:

• Employer Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number (assigned by the ESD)
• Business name
• Total contributions collected from employees
• Name of the report preparer; and
• The following information for each employee:
  • SSN or ITIN
  • Last name, first name, middle initial
  • Wages paid in the reporting quarter and associated hours
• Leave information and amount of weekly WA PFML benefits paid for employees who take WA PFML leave under a voluntary plan.

Reporting periods follow calendar quarters and are aligned with the reporting periods for unemployment insurance. Reports must be submitted by the last day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter.

Visit paidleave.wa.gov/reporting for how-to videos and more information about setting up an account and filing reports.