Healthy Delaware Families Act: Eligibility, Benefits, and Job Protection

Delaware’s Healthy Delaware Families Act created a statewide paid leave insurance program that began paying claims on January 1, 2026. If you qualify, it replaces up to 80% of your average weekly wages, capped at $900 per week in 2026 and 2027, while you are out for a new child, your own serious illness, caring for a sick family member, or an urgent need tied to a family member’s military service.¹

Who Qualifies

Two things have to line up: your employer has to be covered, and you have to meet the work-history test.

Coverage depends on headcount. Employers with 25 or more employees are in the full program, which includes parental, medical, and family caregiving leave. Employers with 10 to 24 workers are only required to offer parental leave. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees are exempt from mandatory contributions, though they can opt in voluntarily.²

On your side, you must have worked for your current employer for at least 12 months and logged a minimum of 1,250 hours in that time. Both are required.³

What Counts as Qualifying Leave

Four categories qualify for benefits:⁴

Parental leave to bond with a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a child placed with you through foster care, within the first year after birth or placement.
Medical leave for your own serious health condition that keeps you from doing your job.
Family caregiving leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
Qualifying exigency leave for urgent needs arising from a family member’s active military duty, as defined under the federal FMLA.

A serious health condition means an illness or injury that requires inpatient care or ongoing treatment by a healthcare provider. The law’s definition of “family member” is wider than many state laws. It covers your spouse or domestic partner; children (including stepchildren, foster children, and the children of a domestic partner); parents and stepparents; grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings; and the in-law equivalents through your spouse or domestic partner. It also reaches anyone related by blood or close personal bond whose relationship is the equivalent of family.⁵

How Much You Get Paid and for How Long

Your weekly benefit is 80% of your average weekly wages, calculated from your gross Delaware FICA wages over the 52 weeks before you file. The amount is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. For 2026 and 2027 the maximum weekly payment is $900. Starting in 2028, that cap adjusts each year with the Consumer Price Index for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area.⁶

The overall cap is 12 weeks of paid leave in an application year, but the breakdown matters. Parental leave can run the full 12 weeks. Medical leave and family caregiving leave are limited to a combined 6 weeks in any 24-month period. Except for parental leave, you can only collect benefits once in a 24-month window.⁴

Two parents working for the same employer can have their combined leave capped at 12 weeks in a 12-month period. During the program’s first five years, employers with fewer than 25 workers can also require employees to take at least half of their parental leave entitlement.⁴

You don’t have to take leave in one block. Intermittent leave is allowed, but unlike federal FMLA, which permits hour-by-hour increments, Delaware’s paid leave must be taken in full-day blocks. For medical or family caregiving leave, your healthcare provider has to certify that intermittent leave is necessary and specify the percentage reduction in your schedule. Employers can require that parental leave be taken consecutively.⁷

Filing a Claim

Give your employer at least 30 days’ notice if the leave is foreseeable. For emergencies, notify them as soon as you can.⁸

Claims go through Delaware LaborFirst, the state’s online portal run by the Department of Labor. The application asks for your personal identification, your employer’s details (business name and payroll or HR contact), and a medical certification from your healthcare provider confirming the serious health condition or birth. For an adoption or foster placement, documentation of the placement serves the same purpose. Complete every section of the certification form; incomplete forms are the main cause of delay.⁹

Your employer has to approve or deny the claim within five business days of receiving a complete application with supporting documentation. If denied, the employer must tell you why.⁴

Once approved, your employer notifies the Department of Labor within three business days. Your first payment arrives within 30 days of that notification, and payments then run every two weeks.⁴

If Your Claim Is Denied

You can request a Claims Review through the Division of Paid Leave. Submit the request through Delaware LaborFirst and attach any additional documentation that supports your case. The Division evaluates the claim independently and decides whether it should have been approved. If your employer uses an approved private insurance plan instead of the state fund, you can still use the state system to challenge the insurer’s denial.⁹

Your Job and Health Insurance While You’re Out

When you return, your employer must put you back in the same position, or in one with equivalent pay, seniority, benefits, and working conditions. That right holds even if the employer hired a replacement or reorganized your role.⁴

There are narrow exceptions. Reinstatement is not required if your leave exceeded the maximum duration and no other law or company policy extends it; if your fixed-term contract ended on its own terms; if your position was eliminated through a legitimate downsizing that would have hit you regardless of leave; if you can no longer perform the essential functions of the job; or if your leave application was fraudulent.¹⁰

Your employer must also keep your group health insurance in place during leave on the same terms as if you were still working. You stay responsible for your share of premiums. When you come back, coverage has to be restored without new waiting periods, re-enrollment, or medical exams.⁴

Protection From Retaliation

Employers cannot fire, demote, or otherwise retaliate against you for using or requesting paid leave. If you think your employer did, you can file a complaint with the Division of Paid Leave or file a lawsuit directly in Delaware court. You do not have to file a complaint first, but you cannot pursue both at once. Complaints must be submitted within 30 days of the alleged violation.¹¹

If a violation is proven, you can recover lost wages and benefits, actual monetary losses (capped at the equivalent of 12 weeks of wages), interest, and liquidated damages equal to the total of your losses plus interest. Courts can also order reinstatement and promotion. A court may reduce the liquidated damages portion if the employer acted in good faith and reasonably believed it was not violating the law.⁴

How It Fits With Federal FMLA

If your leave qualifies under both the Healthy Delaware Families Act and the federal FMLA, the two run at the same time. You do not get 12 weeks of state-paid leave on top of 12 weeks of federal FMLA leave. They overlap, so the practical result is 12 weeks total, with pay during the state-covered portion.⁵

What You Pay From Your Paycheck

Payroll contributions funding the program started on January 1, 2025. The total rate for 2025 and 2026 is 0.8% of wages. Your employer can deduct up to half of that from your paycheck, or it can choose to cover all or part of your share. Either way, the employer is on the hook for remitting the full amount to the state.⁴

Taxes on Your Benefits

Paid leave benefits you receive are generally considered taxable income at the federal level. Under IRS Revenue Ruling 2025-4, medical leave benefits paid by a state program and funded by employer contributions count as gross income. The IRS designated 2026 as a transition year under Notice 2026-6, so states and employers are not required to follow the standard third-party sick-pay withholding and reporting rules for medical leave benefits paid during 2026, and they will not face penalties for not doing so.¹²

One wrinkle to watch: if your employer voluntarily covers your share of the payroll contribution, that pick-up amount is treated as wages for federal employment tax purposes and will appear on your W-2. The 2026 transition relief does not extend to those pick-up contributions.¹²

1
Delaware Department of Labor. Delaware Paid Leave
2
Justia. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 37 Section 3701
3
Justia. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 37 Section 3702
4
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 37 – Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program
5
Delaware Department of Labor. Healthy Delaware Families Act
6
Justia. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 37 Section 3704 – Amount of Benefits
7
State of Delaware. Guide to Delaware Paid Leave
8
Delaware Department of Labor. Notice of Employee Rights – Healthy Delaware Families Act
9
State of Delaware. Apply for Delaware Paid Leave and Claims Process Guidelines
10
Delaware Regulations. 1401 Rules Defining and Regulating the Healthy Delaware Families Act
11
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. 19 Delaware Admin Code 1401-9.0 – Retaliatory Personnel Actions Prohibited
12
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2026-6 – Extension of Transition Period to Calendar Year 2026