Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave
Starting January 1, 2019, all Washington employers and employees are subject to Paid Family & Medical Leave laws. All wages are subject to the premiums for this program as following:
1. Rate of the premium is 0.4% of the wages paid.
a. The base wage is pre-tax, while tips are excluded.
2. Employee and employer will be sharing the burden of 0.4% premium
a. 63.33% of the premium is withheld from employee paychecks.
b. Remaining 36.67% is contributed by employer.
3. However, business with less than 50 employees are not responsible for employer portion of the premiums.
The small employers are only responsible for withholding and paying the withheld premiums to the employee security department.
Washington employees will be enjoying the following benefit from the new laws:
Paid Family and Medical Leave allows employees to take up to 12 weeks, as needed, if they:
Welcome a child into their family (through birth, adoption or foster placement).
Experience a serious illness or injury.
Need to care for a seriously ill or injured relative.
Need time to prepare for a family member’s pre- and post-deployment activities, as well as time for childcare issues related to a family member’s military deployment.
If employees face multiple events in a year, they may be eligible to receive up to 16 weeks, and up to 18 weeks if they experience a serious health condition during pregnancy that results in incapacity.
For any questions, please contract our office. Thank you.
Huh & Jung, CPAs, P.S.