2025 Legal Updates for Employers: Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (HB 1213)

By Amy Kangas Alexander | Related Practice: Employment

The legislature made its first significant changes to Washington’s six-year-old Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) Program. Critically, job projection rights will now apply to small employers. In addition, the minimum increment of time off will be reduced to four hours (previously eight hours), and more employees will enjoy health care benefits continuation coverage during their leave.

Job Protection: Currently, PFML job protection generally aligns with federal FMLA requirements, in that only employees who work for an employer with over 50 employees, with tenure of at least one year and 1,250 hours, are entitled to return to an equivalent role following PFML. Under the current law, employees with short tenures, who work part time, or work for small employers are not afforded job protection under PFML. Starting January 1, 2026, Washington will dramatically expand job protection to cover most employees who take PFML. Job protection will phase in for smaller employers over the next three years as outlined below.

Employees entitled to job protection:

• January 1, 2026: Employers with 25 or more employees
• January 1, 2027: Employers with 15 or more employees
• January 1, 2028: Employers with 8 or more employees

In addition, starting January 1, 2026, employees will no longer be required to have worked for an employer at least one year and 1,250 hours to be entitled to job protection. Rather, employees who work for an employer subject to the job protection aspects of the statute and have worked for that employer for at least 180 calendar days (regardless of the number of hours) will be entitled to job protection.

Concurrent Leave:
The amendments also seek to solve a persistent challenge for employers managing both PFML and FMLA. Currently, PFML and FMLA run concurrently largely at the election of an employee. In other words, an employee could first take unpaid FMLA leave, then apply for PFML, arguably creating an extended, job-protected leave. The amendments to the Paid Family Medical Leave Act allow an employer to run PFML’s job protection concurrently with FMLA, even if the employee delays applying for PFML. In this scenario, an employee could still take PFML after FMLA but may lose job protection during PFML. Employers exercising this option must follow strict employee notice requirements.

Minimum Leave:
The minimum duration for a claim is currently eight consecutive hours. Starting January 1, 2026, it will be reduced to four consecutive hours. Non-exempt employees will now be able to access job-protected PFML for intermittent, half-day absences even if they have drawn down available sick time or PTO. However, it may still be challenging for exempt employees to access half-day PFML, and employers should consult with counsel if exempt employees apply for partial-day PFML.

Notice Requirements:
There are several new notice requirements, including an updated poster, and special notices for concurrent leave. For employees taking more than two weeks of continuous leave (or 14 days of intermittent leave), employers also must now provide at least five business days' advanced written notice regarding the estimated expiration date of the job-protected leave period and the employee’s first scheduled return date. Additional nuances with notice requirements will require careful planning by employers.

Employees Must Return to Work Promptly:
Absent a written agreement otherwise, an employee must report to work on the day they are supposed to return from PFML in order to be returned to their job. Employees lose their right to job protection unless they return to work on the earlier of the first scheduled workday following either (1) the actual leave period under FMLA or PFML; or (2) 16 weeks (or 18 weeks in the case of certain pregnancy-related leave) of continuous or intermittent leave.

Insurance Continuation:
Currently, employers are required to maintain health insurance for employees on PFML only if they also qualify for FMLA and there is some overlap between the PFML and FMLA periods. The amended PFML Act requires employers to maintain health insurance coverage during any period of PFML leave that is job-protected. In other words, over time, most employers will need to maintain health insurance for most employees taking PFML.

Next Steps:
All employers should consider revising their PFML policies and procedures. Leave administrators must be trained on new notice requirements and expanded employee rights.