State and Paid Family Leaves

State and paid family leaves

Access to paid leave is not uniform across the nation (unlike unpaid FMLA job protection) but many states have passed laws governing these plans within their own jurisdictions. In addition, many employers voluntarily provide various levels of paid sick leave, parental leave and family medical leave as part of their employee benefits offering.

What does it mean?

Paid Sick Leave: Paid sick leave can be used to recover from a short-term injury or illness such as a cold or for doctor’s appointments. It is often provided on an accrual basis up to a set number of hours or days per year, such as one hour of leave earned for every 30 hours worked up to seven days per year, and replaces 100% of the worker’s regular wages. On average, private sector workers are offered seven days of paid sick leave per year. Paid sick leave benefits are paid by the employer.

Paid family and medical leave typically provides a set number of weeks or months to be used for a worker’s own serious, longer-term health condition, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or to care for or bond with a new child, and for reasons related to a family’s member’s military service. On average, it provides six to twelve weeks of fully or partially paid leave per year, without the need for accrual. Paid family and medical leave may be insured and is often funded by contributions from the employer and/or the worker.

For a generation Reliance Matrix has been an industry leader, providing employers with expertise, technology, support and insurance programs to help employees understand and access their entitlements while staying compliant with each new local, state or federal leave law.