Updates

All Washington state agencies closed Monday, Feb. 17

Weekly Paid Leave benefit payments may be delayed slightly due to holiday closures that affect banks and credit unions.

Todas las agencias del estado de Washington estarán cerradas el 17 de febrero por el Día de los Presidentes.

Los pagos semanales de beneficios por desempleo pueden retrasarse un poco debido a los días festivos que afectan a los bancos y cooperativas de crédito.

Application processing times

Our application processing time is 3-4 weeks. Download our online user guides for help creating and managing your benefit account. Learn more.

2025 Paid Family & Medical Leave Premiums

Paid Family and Medical Leave premium rates are changing starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Premiums, collected from employees and employers through quarterly reporting, fund the Paid Leave program. By law, we recalculate the Paid Leave premium rate annually in October. We adjust the premium rate based on premiums contributed and benefits paid during the previous year.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025:

• The premium rate will increase to 0.92%.
• Employers will pay 28.48% of the total premium and employees will pay 71.52%.
• Businesses classified by the Employment Security Department as having fewer than 50 employees for the 2025 calendar year are not required to pay the employer portion of the premium. However, you must still collect the employee premium or pay employees’ premiums on their behalf.

Next steps for employers

• Notify your employees the new rate applies to wages paid on or after Jan. 1, 2025. We will update the employer toolkit, mandatory poster and paystub insert in December. These resources are available on the Employer Roles and Responsibilities page at paidleave.wa.gov/employer-roles-responsibilities.
• On Jan. 1, 2025, start collecting the new premium rate each pay period from your employees’ total gross wages, not including tips. Once an employee meets the Social Security cap, you need to stop collecting premiums but continue to report their wages. The Social Security cap for the 2025 calendar year will increase to $176,100.
• First quarter premiums using the new rate are due by the end of April 2025. Remember: You cannot retroactively withhold premiums from employees.

Learn more on our website

We sent letters to employers in late October as an additional notification about this upcoming change — and before the end of the year, we’ll have more resources available on our website, including:

• An updated premium estimator.
• Premium rate calculations.
• More reporting information for you.

Stay tuned!