Workers could receive payments during qualifying family or medical leave

The Department of Workforce Development would pay family and medical leave insurance benefits to eligible covered individuals who take qualifying family or medical leave. Covered individuals generally must have earned at least $1,000 during the base period; self-employed workers may elect coverage. Benefits would not be payable for a period covered by unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation for total disability. Applicants would generally file between 60 days before leave starts and 90 days after it starts, although the department could waive the later deadline for good cause. The weekly payment would use a tiered formula based on the worker’s average weekly earnings and could not exceed the state average weekly earnings. Benefits could be paid continuously or intermittently, but no payment would cover less than one day of leave. Benefits eligibility would apply to family or medical leave that begins on or after January 1, 2028, subject to the collective bargaining agreement exception in the bill.

Employees would be allowed to take family leave for additional military-service, abuse-related, and family-care reasons, and employers could not punish employees for using covered leave. The leave reasons would include caring for a family member with a serious health condition, a family member’s covered active duty, and needs connected to domestic abuse, stalking, or sexual abuse. Active-duty leave would cover qualifying exigencies related to a family member’s covered active duty or impending call to that duty. Abuse-related leave could be used for medical or counseling care, victim services, relocation, or participation in related legal proceedings. Employers could require specified certifications for health conditions or active-duty leave and could require self-attestation for abuse-related leave. The text would set a maximum of 12 weeks for certain family-leave reasons and 14 weeks for a combination of covered reasons in a 12-month period.

Employers would withhold worker contributions and pay required employer contributions into a family and medical leave insurance trust fund; local governments could require more generous leave benefits. The contribution rules would cover employees, participating self-employed workers, and employers, with reduced contribution tiers for employers with 50 or fewer employees. Employee contributions would generally be shared equally with employers, while self-employed workers would pay one-half of the required contribution and no employer share would apply. The department would use the fund only for leave benefits and program administration. A city, village, town, or county could require leave benefits that are more generous than state law. The bill would transfer $258.5 million from the general fund to the trust fund and authorize additional department staff. The contribution rules would first apply to wages earned after January 1, 2027; the collective bargaining agreement exception would apply when an inconsistent agreement expires or is extended, modified, or renewed.