Washington State Maternity Leave Laws: Eligibility, Pay, and Job Rights

Washington State maternity leave runs through the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program, which gives birth parents up to 16 weeks of partially paid, job-protected time off — 12 weeks for medical recovery from pregnancy and childbirth, plus up to 12 weeks to bond with the baby, capped at 16 combined in a 52-week period. Non-birth parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents get up to 12 weeks of bonding leave. The program is administered by the state Employment Security Department and pays benefits directly to you, separate from any leave policy your employer may offer.

How Much Leave You Get as a New Parent

The program provides two separate banks of leave. Medical leave covers a serious health condition, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery. Family leave covers bonding after birth, adoption, or foster placement. Each maxes out at 12 weeks within a 52-week window.¹

A birth parent who uses both types can take a combined total of 16 weeks. If a serious health condition related to pregnancy causes additional incapacity, that combined cap stretches to 18 weeks.¹ Non-birth parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents qualify for the 12 weeks of bonding leave without the medical-leave add-on.

You don’t have to take it all in one block. Intermittent leave is allowed, but you must miss at least eight consecutive hours during any week you claim benefits.

Who Qualifies

You qualify once you’ve worked at least 820 hours in Washington during your qualifying period — the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you apply.² Hours from more than one employer count together, so two part-time jobs can get you there. For someone working 40 hours a week, 820 hours takes roughly five months.

A few categories of workers are not automatically covered: federal employees, employees of tribally owned businesses on tribal land, and self-employed workers who have not opted in. Self-employed Washingtonians can voluntarily elect coverage and then access the same benefits as traditionally employed workers.³ Workers on an employer’s approved voluntary plan get equivalent or better benefits through that plan instead.

How Much You’ll Be Paid

Your weekly benefit is calculated from your average weekly wage compared to the statewide average. If your average weekly wage falls at or below 50% of the state average, you receive 90% of your own weekly wage. Earnings above that threshold are replaced at a lower rate, so lower-income workers see a higher percentage of their paycheck replaced, while higher earners still get meaningful support at a smaller proportion.

For 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $1,647 and the minimum is $100. Even part-time workers who cross the 820-hour threshold receive at least the floor. Benefits are funded by a payroll premium of 1.13% of wages in 2026, split between employers and employees.⁴

Keeping Your Job While You’re Out

Job protection depends on the size of your employer and how long you’ve worked there. In 2026, you’re entitled to return to the same position, or an equivalent one with the same pay and benefits, if your employer has 25 or more employees and you’ve worked there for at least 180 calendar days before your leave starts.⁵ Those thresholds are set to shrink: 15 or more employees starting in 2027, and 8 or more starting in 2028.

There’s one narrow exception. An employer can deny restoration to a salaried employee who falls in the highest-paid 10% of staff within 75 miles of the worksite, but only if restoring the employee would cause substantial economic injury to the business and the employer notified the employee before the leave began.⁵

During your leave, your employer must maintain your existing health insurance on the same terms as if you were still working. You keep paying your share of the premium, but the employer can’t drop your coverage or change the plan while you’re out.⁵

Protections If Your Employer Is Too Small for Restoration

Even if the paid leave statute’s restoration rule doesn’t reach your employer, other laws still protect you from being fired or penalized because of pregnancy.

Washington Law Against Discrimination

Washington’s anti-discrimination law covers employers with eight or more employees and prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy or related medical conditions.⁶ A small employer who isn’t required to hold your job under the paid leave statute still cannot fire you because you’re pregnant. The law also requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions when the employer provides similar accommodations for other disabilities.

Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or recovery. That can include schedule changes, more frequent breaks, temporary reassignment to lighter duties, or permission to work from home. Your employer cannot force you to take leave if a different accommodation would let you keep working.⁷

PUMP Act for Nursing Parents

Once your baby arrives, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act requires your employer to provide reasonable break time and a private space (not a bathroom) for you to express breast milk for up to one year after birth. The space must be shielded from view and free from interruption. These protections extend to nearly all workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, including agricultural workers, nurses, and teachers.⁸

How to Apply

Two separate notice steps drive the application, and missing either one can delay your benefits.

First, give your employer written notice at least 30 days before your planned leave start date. If an emergency makes that impossible, notify them as soon as you can.⁹ Ask your employer for their Unified Business Identifier number; you’ll need it for the state application.

Second, submit your application to the state within 30 days after your qualifying event — the birth, adoption, or placement, or the start of your medical condition. If more time passes, you may still be able to backdate the claim if you had good cause for the delay.¹⁰

To file, create a SecureAccess Washington (SAW) account, then add Paid Leave as a service. Through that portal you’ll enter your employment history, upload proof of identity such as a driver’s license, passport, or utility bill, and submit medical or birth documentation.¹⁰

What documentation you need depends on which leave you’re claiming:

Birth parent claiming medical leave for recovery: a certification form completed by your health care provider, an FMLA form, or a doctor’s note with equivalent information. For the standard postnatal recovery period (typically six weeks), a Certification of Birth form covers both medical and bonding leave.
Any parent claiming bonding leave after birth: the Certification of Birth form.
Adoptive or foster parent: court documents or a letter from a social worker or agency showing the placement date.

Weekly Claims and Getting Paid

Approval is only step one. To receive payments, you file a weekly claim through the SAW portal confirming your continued eligibility. Each week’s claim asks whether you worked any hours, received other benefits such as workers’ compensation or unemployment, and whether you missed at least eight consecutive hours of work that week. If you didn’t miss eight consecutive hours, you won’t be paid for that week.¹¹

Good news for new parents: the program normally imposes a one-week waiting period before benefits kick in, but that waiting period does not apply to medical leave taken for childbirth or family leave taken for bonding.¹² Your benefits start from week one.

Approved claims are paid by direct deposit or a state-issued debit card. You cannot collect Paid Leave benefits during the same week you receive unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation for an on-the-job injury.¹¹

Taxes on Your Benefits

The IRS treats the two types of benefits differently. Family leave benefits (the bonding portion) are taxable income, and the state issues a 1099-G reporting those payments to both you and the IRS. Medical leave benefits are more nuanced: the portion attributable to your own premium contributions is generally not taxable, while any portion attributable to your employer’s contributions is treated as taxable wages.¹³

Washington does not issue a 1099-G for the medical leave portion of your benefits, so if you took both types in the same year, your 1099-G reflects only the family leave payments. No state income tax applies because Washington has no personal income tax, but plan for the federal side. Setting aside 10% to 15% of your family leave benefits for taxes is a reasonable starting point, though your actual liability depends on your household income and filing status.

How This Works With Federal FMLA

If you qualify for both Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run concurrently. FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave if you work for an employer with 50 or more employees, have been there at least 12 months, and have logged 1,250 hours in the prior year.¹⁴ Washington’s program replaces the paycheck; FMLA guarantees the job. When both apply, your employer must provide whichever standard gives you greater protection.¹⁵

The practical difference matters. Washington’s job protection thresholds (25 or more employees and 180 days of tenure in 2026) are easier to meet than FMLA’s. If you work for a company with 30 employees and you’ve been there seven months, Washington protects your job but FMLA does not. On the other hand, if your employer is large enough to be covered by FMLA, its health insurance continuation rules and anti-retaliation protections give you a second layer. Your employer can require you to use your state paid leave benefits during the FMLA period so both clocks run at the same time rather than stacking.

1
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 50A.15 RCW – Benefits
2
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code Chapter 50A.05 RCW – Family and Medical Leave Definitions
3
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Find Out How Paid Leave Works
4
Employment Security Department. Paid Family and Medical Leave Premium Rate Increases to 1.13% in 2026
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 50A.35.010 – Employment Protection
6
Washington Law Help. Pregnancy and Work
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
8
U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Protections to Pump at Work
9
Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave. Employer Notice to Employee
10
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Apply Now
11
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Weekly Claim User Guide
12
Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave. Concise Explanatory Statement – Waiting Week
13
Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave. What to Know About Your 1099-G
14
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
15
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act