Washington D.C. Paid Family Leave

Benefit Overview

Covered Leaves and Durations

The total amount of leave time available in a 52-week period is eight weeks.

Leave Type	Covered Leave	Maximum Leave Duration
Medical	Leave taken by a covered individual due to their own serious health condition	12 weeks
Family	Care for a family member with a serious health condition	12 weeks
	Bond with a new child after birth, adoption or foster care placement	12 weeks
	Pre-natal care	2 weeks

Weekly Benefit Amount

Benefit Calculation:

90% of average weekly wages up to 150% of 40 times DC’s minimum hourly wage, plus
50% of average weekly wages that exceed 150% of 40 times DC’s minimum hourly wage

Maximum Weekly Benefit: $1,118

State Minimum Hourly Wage: $17

Waiting Period

There is a seven-day waiting period for benefits.

Intermittent Leaves

Employees can take leave intermittently or all at once. Intermittent leaves must be taken in one-day increments.

Who's Covered

Covered Employees

Covered	Not Covered	Optional
Covered employees must: Work for a participating employer Spend more than 50% of their work time in the District of Columbia Have worked for a participating employer in the previous 52 calendar weeks before taking leave	An employee receiving unemployment benefits or long-term disability payments	Self-employed individuals

Covered

Not Covered

Optional

Covered employees must:

Work for a participating employer
Spend more than 50% of their work time in the District of Columbia
Have worked for a participating employer in the previous 52 calendar weeks before taking leave

An employee receiving unemployment benefits or long-term disability payments

Self-employed individuals

Family Members

Covered employees may take family leave to care for a:

Child
Domestic partner
Parent
Sibling
Grandparent

How it Works

Plan Options

There's no private plan option for Washington D.C. PFL. Employers must participate in the district's program. However, the district allows private plans that would supplement its PFL program.

Funding

The District of Columbia Paid Family Leave program is funded by an employer paid tax. The PFL tax rate is variable but may not exceed 0.62% of each employee’s gross wages each quarter. The cost cannot be deducted from an employee’s pay. There is no wage limit on the DC PFL tax.

A self-employed individual who has opted-in to the paid leave program will contribute quarterly based on the total gross earnings from all of the self-employed businesses for which the individual performs at least 50% of their work in the District of Columbia.

Additional Information Employers Need to Know

All employers — including private sector, non-profit and household — who pay the district's unemployment insurance tax must participate. Unlike some other states, employers that contract workers through staffing or temp agencies must also participate.

D.C. PFL Notification Requirements

Paid family leave notices must be posted in clearly visible places at the workplace.

More Information

Visit the Washington D.C. Paid Family Leave page for more information.

You can also visit The Standard’s Relatively Speaking blog to stay updated on the latest PFML news.

Legislative Activity

March 11, 2022

Effective July 1, 2022, the benefit period will be 12 weeks for parental, 12 weeks for family, 12 weeks for own medical, and two weeks for pre-natal. The overall maximum will be 12 weeks per year. Employer payroll tax will decrease from 0.62% to 0.26%. Effective July 1, 2022, the benefit period will be 12 weeks for parental, 12 weeks for family, 12 weeks for own medical, and two weeks for pre-natal. The overall maximum will be 12 weeks per year. Employer payroll tax will decrease from 0.62% to 0.26%.

All information on this page is subject to change as state requirements change.