On May 10, 2022, Delaware Governor John Carey signed into law a bill that will require private employers with ten or more employees in Delaware to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave beginning in January 2026, one year after payroll tax deductions to fund the program begin on January 1, 2025. Delaware becomes the latest state to implement legislation that requires employers provide some form of paid family and medical leave to employees, following Maryland last month (which we reported on here).
The Healthy Delaware Families Act (the “Act”) generally tracks the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) in terms of coverage, eligibility, and protections; however, some aspects of the Act diverge from the FMLA. Below is a summary of the highlights that employers should be aware of:
Employers with 10 to 24 employees in Delaware during the previous 12-month period immediately preceding the start of the leave are subject to the parental leave provisions of Act. If an employer has 25 or more employees, they are subject to all provisions of the Act, including the parental leave, medical leave, family care leave, and qualifying exigency provisions. The Act also wholly exempts any business, regardless of size, that is closed in its entirety for 30 consecutive days or more per year.
Similar to the FMLA, employees are eligible to take leave under the Act once they have been employed by their employer for at least 12...
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