On May 20, 2025, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson took the final step toward implementing House Bill (HB) 1213’s expansion of the state’s paid family and medical leave program when he greenlit funding for the program as part of the state appropriations budget for the 2025-2027 biennium. With this funding, the new law will take effect on January 1, 2026.

Quick Hits

• Washington State’s HB 1213 expands job protection rights under the state’s paid family and medical leave program.
• The amended leave program reduces the minimum increment of time off from eight consecutive hours to four consecutive hours.
• HB 1213 also broadens health insurance coverage requirements, along with a variety of other miscellaneous changes.

HB 1213 expands the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (WPFML) program, which is a state-administered program that provides Washington employees with paid time off from work for serious personal and family medical leave.

Here is an overview of the key changes to WPFML made by the new law.

Expanded Job Protection Rights

HB 1213 expands the job protection rights under the WPFML program in several ways. First, it gradually requires more employers to provide job protection. Currently, the law only requires employers with fifty or more employees in Washington to provide job protection. Under the new law, the size of employers required to provide job protection will be implemented over a three-year period, as shown in the table below.

Second, HB 1213 lowers the...

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