2026 Family and Medical Leave Law Updates: What Employers in Seven States Need to Know

Navigating employee requests for family and/or medical leave can be among the most complicated workforce management issues that human resources managers face. This is especially true for employers operating in multiple locations.

As 2025 begins to wind down, employers in seven states—Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington—face new compliance obligations due to recently enacted, amended, or soon-to-be-effective family and medical leave laws. This Insight will provide an overview of the changes to help employers understand the new requirements in these states.

Colorado

All private employers are covered by Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program. Starting January 1, 2026, eligible employees will be entitled to 12 additional weeks of paid FAMLI leave benefits when their child is recovering in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Colorado’s FAMLI program began offering benefits in January 2024 and provides wage-replacement benefits to employees for qualifying reasons. Currently, eligible employees can use up to 12 weeks of FAMLI leave to do the following:

• manage their own or a family member’s serious health condition;
• care for a new child within the first year of their life, adoption, or foster placement;
• make arrangements for military deployments; and
• seek resources relating to domestic violence and sexual assault.

In addition, employees with serious health conditions resulting from pregnancy or childbirth complications are entitled to four additional weeks of FAMLI leave per year.

Earlier this year, Governor Jared Polis signed an amendment to the law that (i) allows employees to receive an additional 12 weeks of paid FAMLI benefits when their child is receiving inpatient care in a NICU and (ii) lowers the total premium contributions from 0.9 percent of wages to 0.88 percent. These changes become effective January 1, 2026.

The FAMLI Division of the Colorado Department of Labor has proposed regulations to provide additional guidance on the recent amendment. Under the proposed rules, NICU leave may be taken only on an intermittent basis, and employees are eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave per hospital admission. The regulations also clarify that NICU leave does not reduce or limit an employee’s entitlement to other types of FAMLI leave. As a result, an employee could qualify for 28 weeks or more of total FAMLI leave if they are both recovering from a serious health condition related to pregnancy or childbirth and caring for their newborn in the NICU. We will continue to monitor these regulations and update you as the landscape evolves.

Colorado’s FAMLI law has a few unique provisions:

• Employers and employees can agree to supplement FAMLI benefits with accrued paid time off (PTO) as long as the arrangement is set forth in a written agreement. Employees cannot be required to use PTO or receive higher than their average weekly wage through both sources.
• Colorado’s definition of “family member” is significantly broader than other state family leave laws and includes individuals with whom the employee has a significant personal bond, regardless of marital or biological relation. However, under the proposed regulations, benefits for NICU leave are limited to parents or individuals standing in loco parentis to an admitted infant.
• Employers must notify employees of the state’s program upon hire and after learning of an employee’s qualified event. In addition, employers are required to post a required workplace notice in a prominent location. A downloadable poster and other helpful resources are published in the FAMLI Toolkit by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Delaware

Delaware’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program, also known as Delaware Paid Leave, will begin accepting employee claims for benefits on January 1, 2026. Employers cannot require employees to use accrued PTO before applying for benefits, per new amendments.

Delaware Paid Leave was enacted in 2022 under the Healthy Delaware Families Act (HDFA), with benefits scheduled to begin on January 1, 2026. On July 30, 2025, Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed a bill (House Substitute 1 for House Bill 128) amending the HDFA, effective immediately.

The most significant change is that employers can no longer require employees to use or exhaust accrued, unused employer-provided PTO, including vacation and sick leave, before applying for benefits. Employers and employees can, however, still agree to use PTO to supplement or “top off” Delaware Paid Leave benefits.

Other amendments clarified various details of the Delaware Paid Leave program, including simplifying the administration of private plans and designating Delaware Paid Leave as the “primary payor” for income replacement benefits when an employee is eligible for multiple income replacement benefits (e.g., short-term disability or paid leave offered through the employer).

The Delaware Paid Leave website provides resources for employers and employees, including FAQs and a benefits contribution calculator. The website also includes a written notice of employee rights that must be conspicuously posted in the workplace and provided upon hire, whenever an employee requests covered leave, or if the employer acquires knowledge of an employee’s qualifying leave. The Delaware Department of Labor’s Division of Paid Leave has released proposed updated regulations that are open to public comment through October 31, 2025, and the current regulations also provide guidance.

Maine

Maine will require virtually all employers to provide paid family and medical leave starting on May 1, 2026. While most employers are covered, employees must meet eligibility requirements based on the duration of employment and employment status at the time of a leave request.

Beginning May 1, 2026, Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law will provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave to certain eligible private employees for family leave, medical leave, military exigency leave, service member leave, or to ensure safety after abuse or violence. The law applies to all private employers that employ at least one individual in Maine, no matter the employer’s size.

Maine’s PFML program has an earnings threshold: to be eligible for benefits, an employee must have earned wages (paid in Maine) at least six times the state average weekly wage during the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual’s benefit year. In addition, the employee must be employed either as of the date of application for benefits if applying in advance of leave, or as of the date of leave beginning if applying retroactively for leave.

Maine PFML offers job protection during leave if an employee has been employed by their employer for at least 120 consecutive days prior to taking leave.

PFML benefits are funded through employer and employee contributions. Employers were required to begin collecting payroll contributions from employees on January 1, 2025, and should report and pay premiums quarterly via Maine’s Paid Leave Contributions Portal.

Maine employers must inform every new employee of their PFML rights and obligations under the law and its implementing regulations within 30 days of commencement of employment. A written notice is obligatory and must contain specific details, including information about available benefits, job protection, health insurance coverage maintenance, and claim procedures.

Employers must display a workplace poster. Extensive guidance, including FAQs and other resources, is also available on the PFML website.

Maryland

The Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance (“MD FAMLI”) program has been postponed several times, with the latest delay pushing the contribution start date to January 1, 2027. Benefits are expected to be available to employees beginning on January 3, 2028. The Maryland Secretary of Labor has until May 1, 2026, to set the contribution rates for 2027.

The MD FAMLI program will provide eligible employees with job-protected leave and benefits that can be used for five categories of reasons, including parental leave and medical leave. As we previously explained, MD FAMLI was enacted in 2022 (see here), amended in 2023 (see here), and amended again earlier this year (see here).

The most recent amendment added the concept of an “anchor date.” In addition to serving as a reference point for calculating when an employee is eligible for MD FAMLI benefits, the anchor date serves as a reference point for calculating (i) a covered employee’s average weekly wage, which is used to calculate benefit amounts, and (ii) eligibility for increases in weekly MD FAMLI benefits. The 2025 amendment also provides that, beginning in 2029, MD FAMLI’s weekly benefits will be tied to the Consumer Price Index to account for inflation.

The MD FAMLI website includes several FAQs for employers and employees and notes that regulations on the MD FAMLI program have not yet been finalized. A draft of the regulations (not yet officially proposed) is available here.

Minnesota

Almost all Minnesota employers and employees are covered under the state’s family and medical leave program, Minnesota Paid Leave (MPL), with benefits beginning on January 1, 2026. As of December 1, 2025, Minnesota employers must post a notice and provide employees with notice of rights.

Beginning January 1, 2026, eligible employees may begin taking paid leave under the MPL program, which covers nearly all Minnesota employers and is distinct from the state’s robust Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), explained here. (Also see here for a concise comparison of the MPL program and the ESSTA).

MPL entitles eligible employees to 12 weeks of medical leave for an employee’s own serious health condition and up to 12 weeks of family leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition, to bond with a new child, for certain safety reasons, or to support a family member who is called to active duty. An employee may use up to 20 weeks of combined medical leave and family leave in a benefit year.

Importantly, MPL does not replace pregnancy and parental leave available under Minnesota’s Parental Leave Act. However, employers may require that MPL run concurrently with leave taken under Minnesota’s Parental Leave Act. Similarly, employers can require that MPL run concurrently with leave taken for the same purpose under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The program is funded by premiums on employee wages; employers must pay at least half of the premium cost and may opt to cover a larger portion. Employers can begin to deduct employees’ share of the premium (a maximum of 50 percent of the cost) on January 1, 2026, when benefits become available. Initial premium payments are due to the State of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development by April 30, 2026.

MPL offers job protection if an employee has been employed with an employer for at least 90 calendar days.

Employers must post a notice and notify each employee directly about MPL by December 1, 2025. A workplace poster, a sample employee notice for employers that will utilize the state plan, and an alternative sample notice for employers that will be using an equivalent plan are available on the MPL website, which provides ample guidance for employers, including a new checklist to help employers prepare for MPL.

Vermont

Effective July 1, 2025, Vermont lawmakers amended the state’s existing Parental and Family Leave Act (PFLA) to offer unpaid leave for a broader variety of permitted uses. Vermont is one of the few states with a voluntary paid family and medical leave insurance program.

Vermont’s PFLA has long granted unpaid job-protected leave for Vermont employees. The Green Mountain State recently expanded family and medical leave entitlements, adding new qualifying reasons for leave usage and expanding the definition of “family member.”

The PFLA entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave in any 12-month period for an employee’s serious health condition, the serious health condition of a covered family member, or parental leave (including childbirth-related disability and to bond with a newly born or adopted child). PFLA also allows usage of up to four hours of unpaid short-term family leave in any 30-day period, capped at 24 hours within any 12-month period.

The amendments added three new types of leave—bereavement leave, military exigency leave, and safe leave—with a maximum of 12 weeks of any PFLA-covered absence in a rolling 12-month period. Further, the definition of “family member” was expanded to include a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner.

Employers are not allowed to require the use of vacation, sick time, or other PTO while an employee is using PFLA, but employees may choose to use paid leave concurrently with PFLA. The previous six-week cap on using paid benefits has been lifted.

The State of Vermont Department of Labor provides guidance through FAQs and has also published a mandatory poster summarizing the various elements of the PFLA.

Washington

Effective January 1, 2026, employers of 25 or more employees will have to provide new job restoration benefits for certain employees.

Earlier this year, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed a bill amending the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law, which we have previously explained.

Among other changes to the PFML law, the amendments expand employee job restoration rights. Effective January 1, 2026, Washington law will require employers of 25 or more employees to provide job restoration for eligible employees returning from PFML and/or unpaid, protected FMLA leave, regardless of whether the employee applied for state benefits. These job protection obligations will expand to cover employers with just 15 or more employees on January 1, 2027, and will apply to employers of eight or more employees as of January 1, 2028. Prior to these amendments, job protection was only available to employees who had worked for the employer for at least 180 calendar days and were already covered under the federal FMLA.

The law’s new provisions on job restoration require employees to exercise their restoration rights promptly unless a written contract provides otherwise. An employee who does not exercise the right to job restoration upon return from leave will forfeit the right. Employers must provide written notice explaining that job restoration rights are estimated to expire whenever an employee takes protected leave in excess of two “typical workweeks” or, if the leave is taken intermittently, when the combined periods exceed 14 typical workdays in total.

Such notice must:

• be provided within five business days of the employee's first request for or use of protected leave (whether paid or unpaid / whether taken as state PFML or federal FMLA) and monthly thereafter during the leave period;
• advise how much protected leave has been used, how much remains, and the estimated deadline for the employee to exercise the right of restoration;
• specify, if applicable, that unpaid leave usage is being counted against maximum leave periods available under state law and that such counting does not affect the employee’s eligibility for PFML benefits; and
• be written in a language the employee understands and delivered in a manner that is “reasonably certain” to reach the employee promptly.

Additionally, as of January 1, 2026, employees can take paid leave for a minimum of four consecutive hours, a smaller minimum increment than the eight consecutive hours previously required.

What Employers Should Do Now

As the effective dates of new requirements approach, and as a general best practice, employers with operations in jurisdictions with new or modified leave laws should review their policies and procedures with respect to family and medical leave. Consider the following action steps:

• Check that compliant posters are appropriately displayed and/or timely distributed as needed.
• Ensure that new hire notices and—where required—annual notices for ongoing employees are current and reflect any changes in the law.
• Review handbooks and consider whether the composition of your workforce lends itself to a “one size fits all” policy or if state or local law obligates you to a more tailored approach based on jurisdiction.
• Monitor state agencies for updated guidance and materials or regulatory action as effective dates approach.

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For additional information about the issues discussed in this Insight, please contact the attorney(s) listed on this page or the Epstein Becker Green Employment, Labor & Workforce Management attorney who regularly handles your legal matters.

Staff Attorney Elizabeth A. Ledkovsky contributed to the preparation of this Insight.