The Hawaii Family Leave Law gives eligible employees up to four weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave each calendar year to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member.1Justia. Hawaii Code 398-3 – Family Leave Requirement It’s codified at Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 398 and covers a broader set of family relationships than the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. You can use accrued paid leave to cover some of the time, but the law itself does not require your employer to pay you.
Who Is Eligible
Two things decide whether the law protects you: the size of your employer and how long you’ve worked there.
Your employer must have at least 100 employees working in Hawaii during each working day of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.2Justia. Hawaii Code 398-1 – Definitions That headcount includes every worker on the Hawaii payroll across all in-state locations, including part-time, temporary, and employees on leave. Workers at mainland or international offices don’t count toward the threshold.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave
On your side, you need at least six consecutive months of employment with that employer.1Justia. Hawaii Code 398-3 – Family Leave Requirement There’s no minimum number of hours worked during that period, which is a lower bar than FMLA sets. A break in continuous service can reset the clock.
Reasons You Can Take Leave
The law covers two kinds of events: welcoming a new child, and caring for a seriously ill family member.
For a new child, you can take leave when your child is born or when a child is placed with you through adoption.1Justia. Hawaii Code 398-3 – Family Leave Requirement Both parents qualify, not just the birth mother.
For a family member’s illness, Hawaii’s definition of family is notably wide. The statute covers your:2Justia. Hawaii Code 398-1 – Definitions
- Child, including biological, adopted, foster, or stepchild
- Grandchild
- Sibling, including biological, adopted, foster, or step
- Spouse or reciprocal beneficiary (a person registered under Hawaii law as your legal partner when you’re unable to marry)
- Parent, which includes a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, stepparent, legal guardian, parent-in-law, grandparent, or grandparent-in-law
Grandparents, siblings, and parents-in-law are all in. Many employees don’t realize the law reaches that far.
What Counts as a Serious Health Condition
A serious health condition is a physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient treatment at a hospital, hospice, or residential medical facility, or ongoing treatment or supervision by a healthcare provider.2Justia. Hawaii Code 398-1 – Definitions The condition must also “warrant the participation of the employee to provide care.” A common cold or a minor injury your family member can manage alone wouldn’t qualify. A parent recovering from surgery or a child undergoing treatment for a chronic illness would.
How Much Time You Get
Four weeks per calendar year, total.1Justia. Hawaii Code 398-3 – Family Leave Requirement That’s four weeks combined across all qualifying events, not four weeks per event. Use two weeks for a sick parent in March and your child arrives in September, you have two weeks left.
You can take the four weeks intermittently rather than all at once.1Justia. Hawaii Code 398-3 – Family Leave Requirement That’s more flexible than federal FMLA, which restricts intermittent leave for birth or adoption. Under state law, you can split up the leave for any qualifying reason, including bonding with a new child. You should still make a reasonable effort to schedule time off in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily disrupt your employer’s operations.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave
Pay During Leave
The leave is unpaid by default. Your employer isn’t required to pay you while you’re out. You do have the right to substitute your accrued paid leave to cover some or all of the time.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave
You choose which type of accrued leave to use. Your employer cannot force you to burn vacation days before tapping sick leave unless the company already imposes that same requirement when you take sick leave for your own illness. If no such policy exists, your accrued sick leave is considered available for family leave.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave
There’s a cap on sick leave: your employer must let you use up to 10 days of accrued and available sick leave for family leave purposes.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave Beyond that, you can fill the remaining days with vacation, personal leave, or other accrued paid time. If you’ve used up every paid leave balance, the rest of your family leave is unpaid.
Pregnancy and Temporary Disability Insurance
If your leave involves pregnancy or childbirth, Hawaii’s Temporary Disability Insurance program may provide partial wage replacement, separately from your family leave entitlement. Under the statutory TDI plan, you receive 58% of your average weekly wages, up to a maximum of $871 per week in 2026.4State of Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. 2026 Maximum Weekly Wage Base and Maximum Weekly Benefit Benefits begin on the eighth day of disability and can last up to 26 weeks.5State of Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. About Temporary Disability Insurance If your employer uses an approved self-insured plan rather than the statutory plan, the amount and duration may differ. TDI covers the period you’re medically unable to work; family leave covers bonding time after that. The two can run in sequence.
Requesting Leave
For foreseeable events like a planned surgery or a known adoption date, give your employer as much advance notice as you can. When something comes up unexpectedly, notify your employer as soon as circumstances allow.
Your employer may require written certification supporting your request.3Hawaii Wage Standards Division. Hawaii Family Leave What that looks like depends on why you’re taking leave:
- Birth of a child: certification from a healthcare provider or the family court
- Adoption placement: certification from the adoption agency, the attorney handling the adoption, or the person officially designated to select the adoptive family
- Serious health condition: certification from the healthcare provider treating the family member who needs care
Submit your request and certification through whatever channel your employer uses, usually HR or an employee portal. Keep copies of everything. Note the anticipated start and end dates clearly.
Your Job When You Return
When your leave ends, your employer must restore you to the same position you held before, or to an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and terms of employment.6Justia. Hawaii Code 398-7 – Employment and Benefits Protection Your employer cannot fill your role permanently while you’re gone and then tell you there’s no spot for you.
One exception. If your employer conducts a legitimate layoff or workforce reduction while you’re on leave and you would have lost your position regardless, reinstatement isn’t guaranteed. You retain seniority rights and any protections under a bona fide layoff and recall system.6Justia. Hawaii Code 398-7 – Employment and Benefits Protection
Taking leave also cannot cost you employment benefits you accrued before your leave began, apart from any paid leave you used during the absence.6Justia. Hawaii Code 398-7 – Employment and Benefits Protection The statute does not require your employer to keep accruing new seniority or benefits while you’re out. It also doesn’t explicitly require your employer to maintain your health insurance during unpaid leave, which is a significant difference from federal FMLA. If health coverage is a concern, ask HR about continuation options before your leave begins.
How It Interacts With Federal FMLA
Many Hawaii employees qualify for both laws, but they have different eligibility rules. FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees, requires 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked, and provides 12 weeks of leave. The state law applies at 100 employees, requires six consecutive months of service with no hours threshold, and provides four weeks.
When you’re eligible under both, the leave periods run concurrently. Your four weeks of state leave count against your 12-week FMLA entitlement.7State of Hawaii Department of Human Resources Development. Family and Medical Leave In practice, that means you could take four weeks of state-protected leave plus an additional eight weeks of FMLA leave for the same qualifying event, for a total of 12. FMLA also requires employers to maintain your group health insurance during leave; the state law does not.
Some employees qualify for state leave but not FMLA. If you work for a company with 100 or more Hawaii employees but have only six months of tenure and haven’t hit 1,250 hours, the state law protects you even though FMLA doesn’t yet. And because the state law covers siblings and grandchildren while FMLA does not, there are situations where only the state law applies regardless of tenure.
If Your Employer Interferes or Retaliates
Your employer cannot interfere with, restrain, or deny your rights under Chapter 398. It’s also illegal for an employer to fire, fine, suspend, or otherwise punish you for taking family leave or for objecting to company practices that violate the law.8Justia. Hawaii Code 398 – Family Leave Retaliation can be subtle: a sudden poor performance review, a shift to less desirable duties, exclusion from projects you previously led. All of that is covered if it’s connected to your leave.
The Director of the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has jurisdiction over violations.9Justia. Hawaii Code 398-9 – Administration If you believe your rights were violated, contact the department’s Wage Standards Division to initiate a complaint. Document everything before you file: save emails, note dates and conversations, and keep copies of your leave request and any certification you submitted. That paper trail is what separates a successful complaint from a he-said-she-said standoff.