If you work in Washington, two separate leave laws sit on top of each other. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives you up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off if your employer is large enough and you’ve worked enough hours. Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program pays you a weekly benefit during qualifying leave and reaches many workers the federal law leaves out. For most people taking leave, FMLA in Washington State means using both at once: the state program pays you, and federal FMLA (plus, in 2026, an expanded state job-protection rule) keeps your job waiting when you return.
Who Qualifies for Federal FMLA
Federal FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, all public agencies, and public and private elementary and secondary schools. You qualify if you meet three thresholds: at least 12 months of employment with the employer (not necessarily consecutive), at least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before leave begins, and a worksite with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.1eCFR. 29 CFR Part 825 – The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 – Section 825.110
If you clear those thresholds, you’re entitled to up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. Qualifying reasons include bonding with a new child through birth, adoption, or foster placement; recovering from your own serious health condition; caring for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition; and certain needs tied to a family member’s military deployment. Caring for a current servicemember or recent veteran with a serious injury or illness expands the entitlement to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28I – Calculation of Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
FMLA is unpaid. It protects your job and your health insurance while you’re out. It does not pay you. That’s the gap Washington’s state program is designed to close.
How Washington’s Paid Program Fills the Gap
Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave covers nearly every worker in the state, regardless of employer size. You qualify for benefits if you’ve worked at least 820 hours in Washington during your qualifying period, generally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before leave begins.3Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Find Out How Paid Leave Works Those hours can come from one job or from several combined.4Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. How Paid Leave Works
The state defines “family” more broadly than federal law. FMLA covers a spouse, parent, or child. Washington also covers grandchildren, grandparents (including a spouse’s grandparents), siblings, in-laws, and anyone with an expectation to rely on you for care, whether or not you live together.5Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Family Member Definition That last category has no federal equivalent.
How many weeks of paid leave you can take depends on the situation:
- Up to 12 weeks for medical leave to recover from a serious health condition, family leave to bond with a new child, or family leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition.4Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. How Paid Leave Works
- Up to 16 weeks if you have more than one qualifying event in the same year, such as your own health condition plus caring for a sick family member.4Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. How Paid Leave Works
- Up to 18 weeks if a pregnancy or childbirth results in a condition causing incapacity.4Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. How Paid Leave Works
There’s a seven-day waiting period at the start of a claim. You get no state benefit payment for that first week. You can use employer-provided paid time off (sick days, vacation) during the waiting week without it reducing your later paid leave benefits.6Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Patient and Family Guide
How Much the State Pays You
Your weekly benefit is calculated against the state average weekly wage, which is $1,830 in 2026. You receive 90% of the portion of your wages that falls at or below 50% of the state average weekly wage ($915), plus 50% of any wages above that threshold. The maximum weekly benefit is $1,647; the minimum is the lesser of $100 per week or your full average weekly wage.3Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Find Out How Paid Leave Works Lower-wage workers replace a higher percentage of their income under this formula. Someone earning $800 a week would receive roughly $720; someone earning $2,000 a week would receive about $1,366.
Applying for State Benefits
You apply directly through the state’s Employment Security Department, not through your employer. Applications go in online, and you should submit within 30 days of your qualifying event. You’ll set up an account through Secure Access Washington, confirm your employment history, and upload supporting documents. Medical leave needs a certification form completed by your healthcare provider (an FMLA form or doctor’s note with equivalent information also works). Bonding leave after a birth uses a birth certification form that covers both parents. Adoption or foster placement requires court documents or an agency letter.7Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Apply Now If you’re taking leave for both a medical event and a family event (giving birth and then bonding, for example), you file separate applications for each. The state notifies your employer by mail once you apply.
How Federal FMLA and State Paid Leave Run Together
When your reason for leave qualifies under both laws, the two clocks usually run at the same time. Using Washington’s paid leave doesn’t leave a separate bank of FMLA leave untouched; both count down together.3Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Find Out How Paid Leave Works Because FMLA is unpaid and the state program pays, running them concurrently is how most Washington workers get paid while their job stays federally protected.
The programs don’t always overlap. Washington covers family members federal law doesn’t (siblings, grandparents, and others), and it applies at smaller employers where FMLA doesn’t reach. When only one program covers your situation, only that program’s clock runs. In practice, that can extend your total protected time in a year.
Stacking Rules in 2026
Taking one program’s leave after the other runs out is sometimes called stacking. Starting in 2026, Washington employers can limit stacking, but only by following specific notice procedures. The employer must provide written notice when FMLA leave is first requested and then monthly, specifying how much FMLA leave is being counted against the employee’s total paid leave job-protection period. Separately, employers must give written advance notice if an employee may lose state job protection by not returning to work by the end of their protected period. The Employment Security Department has issued model notices for both. If your employer doesn’t provide these notices correctly, it may not be able to limit your stacking. The details matter here, so check with the Employment Security Department or a workplace rights attorney if you’re being pushed back to work before you’ve used leave under both programs.
Using Employer PTO at the Same Time
You generally cannot use employer-provided paid time off (vacation, sick days) concurrently with your state paid leave benefit. If you do, the state benefit is reduced dollar for dollar. The exception is a “supplemental benefit” plan set up by your employer, which lets employer pay top off your state benefit without penalty.6Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Patient and Family Guide Not every employer offers one, so ask HR before you assume you can combine both income sources. A workers’ compensation absence can also run concurrently with FMLA if the underlying injury qualifies as a serious health condition.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28P – Taking Leave from Work When You or Your Family Member Has a Serious Health Condition Under the FMLA
Job Protection: The 2026 Change
Federal FMLA guarantees your return to the same position or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions, even if your employer hired a replacement or restructured the role while you were gone.9eCFR. 29 CFR 825.214 – Employee Right to Reinstatement One narrow exception: if you’re among the highest-paid 10% of employees within 75 miles and reinstating you would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the employer’s operations, the employer can deny reinstatement. It must notify you of this possibility in writing when your leave begins and again before actually denying restoration.10eCFR. 29 CFR 825.219 – Rights of a Key Employee
Washington’s state job protection expanded on January 1, 2026. You’re now protected under the state program if your employer has 25 or more employees and you’ve worked there at least 180 calendar days (about six months) before your leave begins.11Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Job Protection for Employees That change captures workers at mid-sized companies who don’t meet the federal 50-employee-within-75-miles threshold. Both federal and state law prohibit retaliation for taking leave. You can’t be fired, demoted, or disciplined for using your leave rights.
Requesting Leave and Providing Certification
For foreseeable leave (planned surgery, an expected birth), federal FMLA requires at least 30 days’ advance notice to your employer. For unexpected needs, notify your employer as soon as reasonably possible. Your employer then has five business days to tell you whether you’re eligible for FMLA, and another five business days (after gathering enough information) to designate the leave as FMLA-protected.12U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28D – Employer Notification Requirements Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
If your employer asks for medical certification, you have at least 15 calendar days to return it.13U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions Don’t let that deadline slide. Missing it can give your employer grounds to delay or deny FMLA protection.
Intermittent and Reduced-Schedule Leave
You don’t have to take leave in one continuous block. Both FMLA and the state program allow intermittent leave (hours or days at a time) or a reduced work schedule when medically necessary. Under federal FMLA, employers must track intermittent leave in increments no larger than one hour, and if the employer tracks other leave types in smaller increments, FMLA leave must use the same smallest increment.14eCFR. 29 CFR 825.205 – Increments of FMLA Leave for Intermittent or Reduced Schedule Leave You can never be charged FMLA time for hours you’re actually working.
Health Insurance While You’re Out
Your employer must maintain your group health insurance during FMLA leave on the same terms as if you were still working.15U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) You still owe your share of the premium. If your payment is more than 30 days late and no employer policy provides a longer grace period, your employer can drop coverage after giving you at least 15 days’ written notice. If coverage does lapse for missed payments, your employer must restore you to equivalent coverage when you return, as though you’d never missed a payment.16eCFR. 29 CFR 825.212 – Employee Failure to Pay Health Plan Premium Payments
If you don’t come back after FMLA leave, your employer can recover the premiums it paid on your behalf during your unpaid leave. Two exceptions: you can’t be billed if you didn’t return because of a continuing or recurring serious health condition (yours or a family member’s), or because of circumstances beyond your control.17eCFR. 29 CFR 825.213 – Employer Recovery of Benefit Costs Working at least 30 calendar days after returning counts as having “returned to work” for this purpose.
If Your Employer Violates the Law
An employer that interferes with your FMLA rights or retaliates against you for taking leave can be liable for lost wages, lost employment benefits, and other monetary losses tied directly to the violation. A court can also award an equal amount in liquidated damages on top of your losses, plus reasonable attorney’s fees.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or bring a private lawsuit. The deadline to sue is two years from the last violation, or three years if the violation was willful.
Violations of the Washington paid leave program’s employment protections are handled separately. You can file a complaint with the Employment Security Department, which administers the program under Title 50A of the Revised Code of Washington.19Washington State Legislature. Title 50A RCW – Family and Medical Leave The state program has its own provisions for penalties, disqualifications, and appeals.