You Start Paying For Paid Family, Medical Leave Jan. 1

OLYMPIA, WA - Benefits under the state's new paid family and medical leave program don't kick in until 2020, but starting Jan. 1, the state will start deducting money from most workers' checks to pay for it.

The state Legislature passed the paid leave law in 2017. Because the family and medical leave program is arranged as an insurance program, you have to pay a premium.

But the state's premium is very cheap: just 0.4 percent of gross wages per paycheck in 2019.

Employers will also pay into the program. Every employer in the state (except for the federal government) has to participate in the paid leave program, but companies with an average of 50 or fewer workers do not have to pay into the program.

What do you get for paying into the program? Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, you get twelve weeks of paid time off for events like a personal illness, a birth, or to care for a sick relative.

Washington is the fifth state in the U.S. to offer paid family and medical leave. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take time off (also for events like a birth or illness), but it's unpaid time off.

"Whether you work part-time, in multiple jobs, for a small business or a large corporation, by 2020 almost anyone working in this state will be able to take necessary time off to care for themselves and their loved ones," ESD Commissioner Suzi LeVine has said of the program.

Check out this infographic on the program from the state Employment Security Department: