The leave law landscape seemingly never sleeps, and since staying on top of it would keep you up all night, Tilt has you covered with Vol. 2 of our: 2022 State-by-State Leave Law Report.
Enjoy our breakdown below of the states making waves! We even made a downloadable version for you to share (aren’t we nice?).
Looking for all the insightful goodies from Vol. 1? See what you might have missed here.
Status of National Paid Family and Medical Leave
Congress has stalled on passing a national paid leave law, but there is growing business support for a paid leave program across the U.S., organized in part by PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States), a non-profit advocacy group.
Status of State Paid Family and Medical Leave
As of May 1, 2022 seven states (California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington) plus D.C. have paid family and medical leave programs. But now, we have not just two, but four other states that have passed legislation to offer paid leave benefits in the near future:
- Oregon – 2023
- Colorado – 2024
- Maryland – 2025 (new – details below)
- Delaware – 2026 (new – details below)
Merilly Merilly Maryland
On April 9, 2022, the Maryland legislature voted to override the governor’s veto of paid leave legislation. So, starting in January 2025, Maryland will offer eligible employees up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave in a year for new child bonding, certain military family reasons or to care for themselves or a close family member with a serious health issue.
New parents who also experience a serious health issue may be eligible for up to 24 weeks of paid leave in a year.
Get Del-Aware
On May 10, 2022, paid leave legislation was signed into law by Governor John Carney.
Beginning in 2026, this program will provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of partially paid parental leave in a year, and up to 6 weeks in two-year period for employees to care for themselves or a close family member with a serious health issue, or for certain military family reasons.
The Deal with the District (D.C.)
The number of paid weeks of leave available for eligible employees under D.C.’s Universal Paid Leave Act is set to increase in 2022. Currently, D.C. offers up to 6 weeks of benefits to employees needing leave to care for their own, or a family member’s, serious health condition, and 8 weeks for parental leave
(with an additional 2 weeks for prenatal care if necessary).
With the expansion of benefits, eligible employees will receive up to 12 weeks of leave for these family and medical leave reasons, plus an additional 2 weeks for prenatal care if necessary. These changes were originally expected to go live on July 1, 2022, but may be delayed to October 1, 2022.
Honorable Mention: Virginia
On April 7, 2022, Virginia’s governor signed into law a Private Family Leave Insurance Act, which is a voluntary plan that permits employers to purchase insurance policies that would provide benefits to partially replace wages lost due to new child bonding, caring for a family member with a serious health condition or certain military family reasons.
The law is effective July 1, 2022.
