Recent Updates to State and Local Leave Laws

This article summarizes recent legislative and regulatory updates to certain state and local paid family and medical leave programs as well as state and local paid and unpaid leave laws. Employers, particularly multistate employers, are advised to pay close attention to any updates that affect their employees in the jurisdictions listed below. Read on for more information. 

State PFML Regulatory Updates

 Washington State

As of June 9, 2022, the following changes are in effect for the Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave (WA PFML) program:

• Eligible employees are entitled to seven calendar days of PFML for child bereavement leave if the employee would have qualified for family leave to bond with the child and/or would have qualified for medical leave following the birth or placement of the child.

• The first 6 weeks after birth will be presumed as medical leave and a medical certification is not required for this postnatal period.

• The exemption from WA PFML for employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement expires on December 31, 2023.

Connecticut

Effective July 1, 2022, an employer must provide written notice to new employees upon hire and then annually under the Connecticut Family Medical Leave Act (CT FMLA) and Connecticut Paid Leave Act (CT PLA).

This notice must contain the following information:

• Employee entitlement to CT FMLA and how it can be used

• Employee opportunities to file a claim for paid leave under the CT PFA

• Retaliation protections under both the CT FMLA and CT PLA

• Employee rights to file a complaint

A Connecticut Department of Labor template notice can be accessed here.

Washington, D.C.

Due to a surplus in the Universal Paid Leave Fund, Washington, D.C. employer contributions to the Universal Paid Leave Fund will be reduced from 0.62% to 0.26% of an employee's salary on July 1, 2022.

Further, the number of weeks of paid leave available to Washington, D.C. eligible employees will increase on October 1, 2022. See the table for more information regarding this increase:

The maximum amount of time available in 52-week period will increase from 8 weeks to 12 weeks (or 14 weeks if taking both parental/bonding leave and prenatal leave).

Other State/Local Paid Leave Developments

In other state and local paid leave law developments:

• New Mexico’s paid sick leave law begins on July 1, 2022.  Click here for a prior blog post from Risk Strategies with more details.

• West Hollywood, California recently enacted a paid leave law ordinance. On July 1, 2022, employers with employees (including remote workers) in West Hollywood are required to provide them with up to 96 hours of paid leave per year and up to an additional 80 hours of unpaid leave for sick leave where an employee has exhausted their compensated time off for that year.

• Illinois updated its Child Bereavement Leave Act for January 1, 2023 and renamed it the "Family Bereavement Act." The Child Bereavement Leave Act was initially adopted in 2016 and mandated Illinois employers with 50 or more employees to provide 10 workdays of unpaid leave every year for purposes of grieving the death of a child. The Family Bereavement Act expands this bereavement leave for the death of a "covered family member"¹ and covers work absences due to pregnancy loss, failed adoptions, unsuccessful reproductive procedures, failed surrogacy agreements, and other diagnoses or events negatively impacting pregnancy and fertility.

• Bloomington, Minnesota recently became the fourth city in Minnesota to require paid sick and safe time for employees performing work for their employer within Bloomington's geographic boundaries for at least 80 hours in a year. Private employers are subject to this new Bloomington, MN paid sick and safe time requirement if they have five or more employees working anywhere in the country. Bloomington joins three other Minnesota cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth) in requiring paid sick/safe leave time for employees. The Bloomington ordinance is very similar to the current Minneapolis one and requires employers to provide certain employees in Bloomington with up to 48 hours of paid sick and safe time per year, starting on July 1, 2023.

Risk Strategies is committed to keeping employers informed and up to date. Contact your Risk Strategies account team with any additional questions.

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¹ "Covered family member" includes children, stepchildren, spouses, domestic partners, siblings, parents, parents-in-law, grandchildren, grandparents, or stepparents.