Maryland Paid Family Leave: Eligibility, Benefits, and Filing

Maryland’s paid family leave program, formally the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, will give eligible workers up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave starting in January 2028, with weekly benefits capped at $1,000. To qualify, you need to have worked at least 680 hours in Maryland during the four most recently completed calendar quarters before your leave starts.¹ Payroll contributions that fund the program begin a year earlier, in January 2027.

When the Program Starts

The Maryland General Assembly created FAMLI through the 2022 Time to Care Act, codified at Title 8.3 of the Labor and Employment Article.² The rollout has two dates worth marking:

January 1, 2027: payroll contributions begin. Your employer starts withholding your share from each paycheck and sending it quarterly to the state.
January 2028: benefits become available. This is the earliest you can file a claim and receive paid leave.

The one-year gap lets the state fund build reserves before paying out claims.¹

Who Qualifies

Coverage is essentially universal. Any employer with at least one employee in Maryland must register with the FAMLI Division, with no exceptions for small businesses or industry.³

What matters for you as a worker is the hours threshold: 680 hours in Maryland across the four most recently completed calendar quarters before your leave begins or you file your claim, whichever comes first.¹ Spread over a year, that’s roughly 13 hours a week, so many part-time workers will meet it.

Self-employed Marylanders can opt in, but enrollment rules and details won’t be released until 2028.⁴ Opting in commits you to at least three years of participation and to paying the full contribution rate (both the employer and employee portions).⁵

What Counts as a Qualifying Reason

FAMLI covers four categories of leave:

Bonding with a new child after birth, adoption, or the start of a foster placement, taken within the first year.
Caring for a family member with a serious health condition that requires hospitalization or ongoing treatment from a licensed healthcare provider.
Recovering from your own serious health condition that prevents you from doing your job.
Military-related needs, such as managing affairs when a family member is called to active duty or preparing for a deployment.

The definition of “family member” is broader than most workplace leave rules. It covers your spouse or domestic partner, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings, including step, foster, and adopted relationships in each category. It also includes someone who acted as your parent when you were a minor even without a formal legal tie, a person you have court-appointed decision-making authority over, and a child living with you for whom you’ve taken on parental responsibility without a formal adoption.⁴

How Much You’ll Receive

Your weekly benefit is tied to how your average weekly wage compares to the state average weekly wage (SAWW), with a two-tier formula split at 65% of the SAWW:⁶

If your average weekly wage is 65% or less of the SAWW, you receive 90% of your wage.
If your average weekly wage is above that threshold, you receive 90% of wages up to the 65% point, plus 50% of wages above it.

A quick example. If the state average weekly wage is $1,200, the 65% dividing line sits at $780. A worker earning $600 a week gets 90% of $600, or $540. A worker earning $1,000 a week gets 90% of $780 ($702) plus 50% of the remaining $220 ($110), for $812.

Weekly benefits have a $50 floor and a $1,000 cap.⁶ The Secretary of Labor can adjust the cap for inflation starting in January 2027 and annually thereafter, so the actual maximum may be higher by the time benefits open in 2028.⁷ Whatever the cap, your FAMLI benefit combined with any supplemental paid leave from your employer cannot exceed 100% of your average weekly wage.

How Long You Can Take Leave

The standard allowance is up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a 12-month benefit year. One meaningful exception: if you both experience your own serious health condition and welcome a new child in the same year, you can qualify for up to 12 weeks for each event, totaling up to 24 weeks. The two events don’t need to be connected.⁷

Taking Leave Intermittently

You don’t have to take all your leave at once. Intermittent leave is allowed, with each instance lasting at least four hours unless your scheduled shift is shorter.⁸ Your healthcare provider’s certification must state the expected frequency and duration, and if your actual usage significantly exceeds what was certified, you’ll need an updated certification.

You also have to submit a benefit request within five business days of each instance of intermittent leave and make a reasonable effort to schedule it in a way that doesn’t badly disrupt your employer’s operations. Approved intermittent leave expires after one year.⁸

Your Job While You’re on Leave

FAMLI leave is job-protected. Your employer must hold your position and return you to the same or an equivalent role.⁴ There is no minimum employer size for this protection, which differs from the federal FMLA’s 50-employee threshold.

If your employer retaliates against you for using or requesting FAMLI leave, the FAMLI Division handles complaints. One clarification: if your intermittent leave pattern doesn’t match the certification, it isn’t retaliation for your employer to ask for more information about how you’re using it.⁹

How FAMLI Interacts With FMLA and PTO

When your reason for leave qualifies under both FAMLI and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run concurrently. Twelve weeks of FAMLI leave for a qualifying event also counts as your 12 weeks of FMLA leave. If an event only qualifies under FAMLI, such as caring for a grandparent or sibling (not covered under FMLA), you wouldn’t use any FMLA time.⁴

Your employer cannot require you to use up your vacation or sick time before or during FAMLI leave. You and your employer can agree to use employer-provided paid leave to top off your FAMLI benefit so your total pay gets closer to your regular wage, as long as the combined amount doesn’t exceed 100% of your average weekly wage.⁶

How to File a Claim

Give Your Employer Notice

If your need for leave is foreseeable, such as a due date, a scheduled surgery, or a known deployment, you must give your employer 30 days’ notice. For situations you couldn’t have known about in advance, like an emergency hospitalization, notify your employer as soon as practicable.¹⁰

Gather Documentation

For any medical-based claim (your own condition or a family member’s), you’ll need a certification from a licensed healthcare provider describing the condition and expected recovery timeline. For intermittent leave, that certification also has to specify how often and how long you’ll need time off.⁷ You’ll also need personal identification, proof of Maryland-based employment, and your employment and wage history so the Division can verify contributions and calculate your benefit.

Submit Through the Portal

Claims go through the FAMLI online portal at paidleave.maryland.gov. Once you’ve uploaded documentation and completed the application, the FAMLI Division has 10 business days from receipt of a complete claim to decide.⁷ The Division notifies your employer when you file and again after a decision. Approved benefits are paid by direct deposit or a state-issued debit card, and you’ll need to periodically certify continued eligibility to keep payments going.

If Your Claim Is Denied

Start with reconsideration through the FAMLI Division. You have to complete reconsideration before you can file a formal appeal. If reconsideration doesn’t go your way, you have 30 days from the adverse determination to file an appeal, unless you can show good cause for a late filing. A hearing officer reviews the case and issues a final written order within 10 business days after the hearing closes.¹¹ The 30-day appeal window goes fast, and missing it will likely end the matter.

What You’ll Pay In

Total contributions to FAMLI cannot exceed 1.2% of wages, calculated up to the Social Security wage base.¹² How the cost splits depends on employer size:

At employers with 15 or more employees, the contribution is split equally between employer and employee, with your share withheld from your paycheck.¹³
At employers with fewer than 15 employees, the employer only has to remit 50% of the total rate and can withhold that entire amount from your pay. In practice, employees at the smallest workplaces may cover the full cost themselves.¹²

Employers can voluntarily cover some or all of the employee share, but they aren’t required to.⁷

1
Maryland FAMLI. About the Program
2
Maryland FAMLI. Law and Regulations
3
Maryland FAMLI. For Employers
4
Maryland Department of Labor. FAMLI Frequently Asked Questions October 2025
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Maryland Department of Labor. Draft FAMLI Optional Self-Employed Plan Regulatory Outline
6
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-703
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Maryland FAMLI. For Employees
8
Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 09.42.04.07 – Intermittent FAMLI Leave Benefit Request Process
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Maryland Department of Labor. FAMLI Frequently Asked Questions April 2026
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Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 09.42.04.08 – Notice Requirements
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Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 09.42 – Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program
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Maryland FAMLI. Contributions
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Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 09.42.02 – Contributions