Coming soon to a state near you: paid family leave, with Delaware and Maryland joining the growing number of jurisdictions to enact new laws.
In May, Delaware became the 11th state to adopt paid family leave when Governor John Carney signed the Healthy Delaware Families Act into law, creating an insurance account fund paid into by employers with an 0.8 percent payroll tax.
The law provides eligible employees (any individual employed by an employer and who works in the state) with up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave and six weeks of paid medical, caregiving and military leave. Employees are eligible for leave once they have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months prior to the first date of leave and were employed for 12 months prior to the first date of leave.
Employers with at least 25 employees are subject to all the leave provisions, while those with 10 to 25 employees are only required to provide parental leave; compliance is optional for employers with fewer than ten employees. Employers may opt out of the act’s requirements if they have an established paid leave program that offers comparable benefits and receive approval after applying for an exemption with the Delaware Department of Labor.
Employees may take paid leave for specified reasons: the birth, adoption or placement through foster care of a child; caring for a family member with a serious health condition (as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)); having a serious health condition that...
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