Find out how paid leave works

Find out how Paid Leave works

When can you take Paid Leave?

There are two main types of Paid Leave available:

Medical leave

  • Your serious health condition prevents you from working.
  • For prenatal or postnatal care, including complications.
  • Any leave taken by a birthing parent in the “postnatal period” will be designated as medical leave unless otherwise specified.

Family leave

  • Care for a family member with a serious health condition.
  • Bond with a new baby or child in your family.
  • Spend time with a family member who is about to deploy overseas or is returning from overseas deployment (military exigency).

You take leave when you have a qualifying event.

Not all illnesses, injuries or situations will qualify you to take Paid Family and Medical Leave.

Paid family leave is for the adoption, birth or placement of a child, for the care of a family member with a serious health condition, and for a qualifying military exigency.

Paid medical leave is for your own serious health condition.

A “serious health condition” is defined in the law.

Generally, a serious health condition could include an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves:

Inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility, including any period of incapacity; or

Continuing treatment by a health care provider including any of the following:

  • Incapacity: A period of incapacity of more than three consecutive days and subsequent treatment or period of incapacity relating to the same condition. Incapacity means an inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities because of a serious health condition, treatment of that condition or recovery from it, or subsequent treatment.
  • Pregnancy: Any period of incapacity due to pregnancy, or for prenatal care.
  • Chronic conditions: Any period of incapacity or treatment for such incapacity due to a chronic serious health condition. A chronic serious health condition is one which:
    • Continues over an extended period of time, including recurring episodes of a single underlying condition;
    • Requires periodic visits to a health care provider; and
    • May cause episodic rather than a continuing period of incapacity, including asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy.
    • A period of incapacity which is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective. The employee or family member must be under the continuing supervision of, but need not be receiving active treatment by, a health care provider, including Alzheimer’s, a severe stroke, or the terminal stages of a disease; or
    • Any period of absence to receive multiple treatments, including any period of recovery from the treatments.
  • Cosmetic or restorative surgery: Restorative surgery after an accident or other injury, restorative dental or plastic surgery after an injury or removal of cancerous growths, or cosmetic surgery requiring inpatient hospital care or if complications developed.

Substance abuse may be a serious health condition if the treatment meets other requirements in this definition.

You must have worked 820 hours in your qualifying period.

Full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal work count. You do not need to be currently employed to take Paid Leave.

We look at your employment history for a 12-month period. Qualifying periods always start on the first day of a calendar quarter, and it usually starts about 15 months prior to the day you applied for leave or your leave start date, whichever is earlier.

The four quarters in a year are:
Quarter 1: January, February, March
Quarter 2: April, May, June
Quarter 3: July, August, September
Quarter 4: October, November, December

Job protection through Paid Leave

If you work for a company that employs more than 50 people in Washington, and you have worked there for at least a year and for at least 1,250 hours in the year before taking leave, your job is likely protected. But your employer can deny job restoration if:

If you do not have job protection with Paid Family and Medical Leave there may be other local, state or federal laws that offer job protection or restoration for you. You will need to continue to follow the leave notification policies of your employer.

Certain workers are not automatically eligible for Paid Leave

  • Federal employees
  • Employees of a tribally-owned business on tribal land
  • Self-employed people who do not opt into the state program
  • Workers covered by their employer’s approved voluntary plan

Paid Family and Medical Leave is different than the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Using FMLA does not reduce your allowed Paid Leave benefit, so you can use both types of leave. It’s important to note that Paid Leave and FMLA usually run concurrently, since many Paid Leave events also qualify for FMLA.

Paid Leave:

  • State program for people working in Washington
  • Offers paid leave
  • Available to workers in businesses of all sizes
  • Has a broader definition of “family,” including siblings, grandparents and someone who has an expectation to rely on you for care – whether you live together or not.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA):

  • Federal program throughout the U.S.
  • Offers unpaid leave
  • Only available to workers in businesses of 50 or more employees
  • Has a narrower definition of “family.”

Application process

  1. Notify your employer at least 30 days before you plan to take leave (if the event is foreseeable)
  2. Experience a qualifying event
  3. Apply for leave within 30 days after your qualifying event happens
  4. Receive a determination letter in the mail
  5. Waiting week begins (exceptions: leave taken in the postnatal period, bonding leave or military exigency don’t have a waiting week)
  6. File weekly claims to get paid (you may have an unpaid waiting week)

How much time do I get?

Within your claim year, you can take:

Up to 12 weeks of medical leave or family leave. Medical leave is for recovering from or getting treatment for a serious health condition. Family leave is for taking care of a qualifying family member who has a serious health condition, for bonding with a new child or for certain military events.

Up to 16 weeks of combined medical and family leave if you have more than one qualifying event in the same claim year. This could include medical leave for pregnancy or to recover from giving birth, then family leave to bond with your baby. Or you could qualify for family leave to care for a family member, then medical leave for yourself within the same year.

Up to 18 weeks of combined medical and family leave if you experience a condition in pregnancy that results in incapacity, like being put on bed rest or having a C-section. Your health care provider will need to fill out the appropriate information in the Certification form (pregnancy and birth) packet.

Using your Paid Leave.

A little at a time, or all at once: You do not have to take your Paid Leave all at once. But you must claim eight consecutive hours of leave each week, or claim zero hours if taking intermittent leave. For example, you can take one day off a week to care for a family member undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Or you can take your leave in full weeks to recover from your own major surgery.

How much will I get paid?

Use our calculator to find out how much your pay could be if your leave starts in 2024:

Estimate My Pay

We determine your weekly benefit amount based on wages reported by your employers. When you take Paid Leave, you can receive up to 90% of your weekly pay, up to the maximum, which is updated yearly.

Your maximum weekly benefit amount won’t change if you apply for or begin your leave in one year and your claim continues into a new calendar year.

Maximum weekly benefit amounts:

  • 2024 = $1,456 / week
  • 2023 = $1,427 / week
  • 2022 = $1,327 / week
  • 2021 = $1,206 / week
  • 2020 = $1,000 / week