Job protection requirements for employers

Job protection requirements for employers

Understand your legal responsibilities when employees take Paid Family and Medical Leave. This information reflects updates from the 2025 legislative session, effective from January 1, 2026.

Note: Some of the details below may change in the coming months as ESD works to finalize rulemaking related to the changes.

What is job protection?

Job protection means that eligible employees must be restored to their job, or an equivalent one, after returning from approved Paid Leave. You cannot terminate, demote, or penalize an employee for taking leave. 

Restoration includes: 

  • The same or equivalent job title 
  • The same pay and benefits 
  • The same working conditions 

Who must provide job protection? 

Starting January 1, 2026, most employers in Washington state with 25 or more employees must provide job protection to eligible employees taking Paid Leave.  

  • The qualifying employer size limit will be reduced from 50 or more employees to 25 or more employees 
  • The required employee tenure will be reduced from 12 months to 180 days 
  • The minimum hours worked requirement will be eliminated 
  • Voluntary plan requirements will be the same as the state plan requirements above 

Summary of eligibility requirements

YearEmployer sizeEmployee tenure
202550+ employees12 months and 1,250 hours
202625+ employees180 calendar days (6 months)
202715+ employees180 calendar days (6 months)
2028 and beyond8+ employees180 calendar days (6 months)

If both conditions are met, you must restore the employee’s job when they return from leave. 

Learn more about voluntary plans at https://paidleave.wa.gov/voluntary-plans/.  

Important 

Any employee that is returning from Paid Leave on or after January 1, 2026, is entitled to job protection based on the 2026 eligibility requirements. This is true even if the leave started before January 1, 2026. 

Example: An employee at a business with 25 employees, who has worked there for more than 6 months, takes 5 weeks of Paid Leave. The Paid Leave starts in December of 2025 and ends in January of 2026. Because this employee is returning to work on or after January 1, 2026, they are entitled to job restoration. 

Exceptions to job protection

Highly paid employees 

You may deny restoration to salaried employees in the top 10% of earners within 75 miles of the workplace only if: 

  • Restoration would cause substantial economic harm 
  • You provide written notice during leave 
  • The employee elects not to return after receiving the notice 

If an employee requests to have their employment restored after they have received written notice, the employer is obliged to reassess whether restoring the employee will cause substantial economic harm. If the employer confirms their assessment, then the employee’s position is no longer protected. 

Failure to return to work on time 

Unless you have a written agreement to extend the leave time, you are not required to restore the job if the employee does not return by: 

  • The first scheduled workday after leave ends, or 
  • After 16 weeks of leave in a 52-week period (or 18 weeks for pregnancy-related incapacity)

The position would not have existed 

If you can show that the employees’ position would not have existed, even if they had not taken leave, then you are not required to restore the position when their leave ends. Reasons may include: 

Reference RCW 49.45.060 for additional details. 

Medical clearance 

If the leave is for the employee’s own medical condition, you may require a certification from their healthcare provider that they are fit to return to work, only if: 

Required notice to employees using Paid Leave

If you are required to provide job protection to employees on Paid Leave, then after an employee has been on leave for 14 days you must provide written notice informing the employee when: 

How is employee count of an employer determined for job protection? 

For employment protection, employers are considered to have 25 or more employees when they have at least 25 employees on their Washington state payroll each workday for twenty or more calendar weeks. These weeks must occur either in the current calendar year or in the preceding calendar year.

Healthcare coverage requirements 

Starting January 1, 2026, if an employee qualifies for job protection under Paid Leave, you must: 

You are not required to maintain coverage if: 

Important 

If you have an employee who qualifies for job protection and starts leave in 2025 and returns to work after January 2026, then this employee will be eligible to have health benefits continued starting on Jan 1, 2026, until they return to work.

Coordinating Paid Leave with FMLA 

Starting in 2026, you may count FMLA job protected leave against the employee’s Paid Leave job protection time (typically 16 weeks per year).  

If the employee takes unpaid FMLA leave instead of Paid Leave, you must provide written notice that includes: 

Note: This is entirely optional. You may choose not to count FMLA job protected leave against Paid Leave, in which case no action is needed. 

Not all employees are eligible for FMLA. You must work for a covered organization to take FMLA leave. FMLA covers:  

Timing 

You must provide the notice: 

  • Within 5 business days of leave request or start 
  • At least monthly during the 12-month FMLA leave year 

Job protection during mass layoffs

Washington law provides specific protections for employees who are taking Paid Leave during a mass layoff. Under RCW 49.45.060, an employee who is actively on Paid Leave may not be included in a mass layoff unless the layoff results from one of the limited circumstances described in RCW 49.45.030 (1)(b) through (d).

These circumstances include:

When none of these conditions apply, an employee using Paid Leave is protected from termination for the duration of their leave.

This protection applies only during the period in which the employee is actually taking Paid Leave. For employees using intermittent leave, the department considers the employee to be on Paid Leave only during the specific days or hours they are not working and are using approved leave.

After the employee returns from leave, the employer may lawfully end the employment relationship if they comply with all requirements of chapter 49.45 RCW and other applicable laws.

An employee who has Paid Leave scheduled to start after the date that a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice is issued is not considered to be on Paid Leave. As a result, their employment is not protected. Similarly, an employee with a pending application for Paid Leave will not have their employment protected if their employer issues a WARN notice.

Learn more about the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Failure to comply 

Failure to comply with Paid Leave obligations is considered to be an Unlawful Act. Employers who fail to comply with Paid Leave job protection requirements may face serious consequences.  

All employee complaints alleging that an employer has not met their legal obligations to restore a job or to protect employment during Paid Leave are investigated by the Employment Security Department (ESD). 

If ESD finds that a violation has occurred, the department may order the employer to pay damages to the employee. 

You can find details about the complaints process on our Unlawful Acts Complaint form.

To help stay compliant, you should: