Employers in Washington State have been bound by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) since 1993 and by Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) since 2017. But Washington has revised its family and medical leave law almost every year, so it can be hard to keep track of your current obligations as an employer.
Who’s covered by PFML and FMLA in Washington, and how can employers assess, track, and manage multiple types of leave efficiently? Here’s what you need to know about PFML and FMLA eligibility in Washington State and how you can use a leave management platform to navigate state and federal laws with confidence.
Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) is a state leave law that allows eligible employees to take paid time off for certain qualifying conditions, such as:
PFML differs from ordinary sick leave in that it’s funded by premiums shared between the employee and the employer. Employees can receive up to 90% of their average weekly wage, with a maximum weekly benefit amount of $1,542 (according to the Benefit Guide).
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that applies in every state in the U.S., including Washington. Covered employers include public and private schools, government agencies, and private employers with 50 or more employees.
FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for for certain qualifying events, including:
FMLA leave is unpaid leave, but it provides job protection, which means an employee can’t be fired while on leave and must be allowed to return to work afterwards.
Employees who qualify for both PFML and FMLA in Washington can take leave under both laws concurrently — not one after the other. This means they could receive paid leave benefits under PFML while simultaneously on unpaid FMLA leave.
But this isn’t always the case. Sometimes an employee will qualify for one type of leave but not the other. Here are a few of the key differences between them.
Paid Family and Medical Leave covers more situations than FMLA in Washington, in part because it has a more expansive definition of “family member.” FMLA applies to immediate family members, such as children and spouses, but PFML also applies to siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, children-in-law, and more.
In fact, according to the PFML website, it includes anyone who “has an expectation to rely on you for care, whether you live together or not” — making it a fairly comprehensive leave law.
FMLA leave is limited to 12 weeks of leave per year (or 26 weeks to act as caregiver for an active duty service member). PFML also provides up to 12 weeks of leave for family or medical reasons, but this can be extended to 16 or 18 weeks of combined leave “if you have events covered by both in the same claim year,” according to the PFML Benefit Guide.
PFML also covers both prenatal care and postnatal care, while FMLA has more limited coverage related to parental leave and pregnancy.
Employees only qualify for FMLA if they’ve worked for their employer for 12 months overall, including 1,250 hours in the previous 12-month period. Employees may be eligible for PFML after working as few as 820 hours in a 12-month period.
And although self-employed Washingtonians aren’t automatically covered by PFML, they can opt in to a voluntary plan and pay their premium.
State and federal leave laws change from time to time, and Washington’s leave laws are no exception. Here are a couple recent updates to PFML:
When you use a platform like Pulpstream to track and manage leave, you’ll always have the most up-to-date information about PFML and FMLA in Washington. Our digital tools help you keep up with leave laws to ensure leave of absence compliance.
As an employer, it’s your responsibility to know when an employee qualifies for PFML or FMLA and track leave accordingly. Here are four key obligations to keep in mind.
First, you’ll need to let employees know about their legal rights under PFML and FMLA in Washington. This should include putting up the mandatory poster as well as sharing additional information in your employee handbook or company policies.
In turn, employees are expected to give 30 days’ written notice when they plan to take leave. Make it easy for them to submit a leave of absence request with Pulpstream’s self-service portal — a modern, intuitive digital leave solution.
Employers in Washington State need to calculate the PFML premium amount based on the employee’s average weekly pay and withhold it from their wages. They’ll also need to file quarterly reports with each employee’s total hours worked and total wages.
If an employee is eligible to take paid leave under PFML, they’ll have to go through an application process with the Employment Security Department and file weekly claims. If they qualify for FMLA leave, they may need to obtain a medical certification form from their health care provider to verify their qualifying illness or incapacity.
As an employer, you can streamline the process for employees by providing an online portal to centralize communications. Pulpstream’s all-in-one platform even sends out email and SMS notifications to keep them informed every step of the way.
Depending on which type of leave an employee qualifies for, they may be able to take it all at once or intermittently. They may also be eligible for other benefits, such as sick leave or paid time off, under state law or your own company policies.
Use Pulpstream to track FMLA leave in Washington and see how it overlaps with other laws and policies. Employees can even log in to view their own leave balance online to ensure they can access the benefits they’re entitled to without exceeding them.
If you have employees in the state of Washington, they may be eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Businesses of any size are required to participate in PFML, while employers with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from FMLA in Washington.
Pulpstream’s leave management platform makes it easy to meet your obligations as an employer — even when your HR team has to comply with multiple types of leave or in multiple jurisdictions. Our all-in-one platform allows you to centralize documents and internal communications, while our leave of absence automation tools automatically track employee attendance, intermittent leave, and the return to work process.
Request a demo today to see how it works!