Important: PMFL withholding began January 1st, 2025
Quarterly wage reporting and premium payments for Mine Paid Family and Medical Leave began April 1st, 2025. Employee benefits begin May 1, 2026.
Maine’s PFML law provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave to be used for for family leave, medical leave, to deal with the transition of a family member’s pending military deployment, or to stay safe after abuse or violence.
If you pay employees in Maine, you'll need to remit a premium of 1% of covered employee wages toward Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. Employers may withhold and deduct up to half of this amount from covered employee wages. Small employers may have a reduced premium of 0.5% of covered wages, with the option to withhold and deduct the entire amount from covered employee wages.
Employers can register their business information, designate a payroll processor, file quarterly wage reports, and remit quarterly premium contributions in the The Maine Paid Leave Contributions Portal. The portal will also allow self-employed individuals and tribal governments to elect coverage. Employers must register for an account to begin wage reporting in April.
What you need to know about Maine PFML
Employers with 15 or more employees*
- Contribute 1% of covered employee wages
- May withhold and deduct up to 50% of this 1% rate contribution from the employee wages
Employers with fewer than 15 employees ("Exempt")
- Contribute 0.5% of covered employee wages
- May withhold and deduct up to 100% of this 0.5% rate from employee wages
You must register for a PFML ID by going to The Maine Paid Leave Contributions Portal. Once you've received your PFML ID, you'll need to enter it into OnPay in order for us to report your contributions to the state. You can also set the percentage of your rate that you wish to withhold and deduct from employee wages (if any), as well as indicate you're an employer of fewer than 15 employees*.
- Don't worry, your liability doesn't change the instant you hire that 15th employee. For Maine PFML, employer size is determined on October 1 of each year, and is based on the number of employees employed during a lookback period. The lookback period is the 12-month period beginning October 1st of the previous year, through September 30th of the current year), and is used to determine the employer's PFML premium liability for the following calendar year (January 1st - December 31). Includes full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees.
- You can find your employer size and PFML liability at The Maine Paid Leave Contributions Portal→
- For more about how employer size is determined, see page 13, paragraph F of the rules for Maine PFML→
How to set up Maine PFML in OnPay
Go to Company, then Payroll Taxes.
Do you pay employees in multiple states?
If so, select Maine under "Payroll Taxes".
Scroll down to "Maine State Paid Family and Medical Insurance Setup" and enter your Maine PFML ID (ex: 123-4567890) in the specified field.
Indicating "Exempt" for small employers
Employers with fewer than 15 employees have a reduced PFML rate of 0.5% of covered employee wages. For these employers, this reduced 0.5% rate can be paid using 100% employee withholdings, making the employer effectively "exempt" from paying the tax. This is not an exemption of the employer's responsibility to file and remit PFML tax payments.
If you have fewer than 15 employees, select "Exempt".
Setting up an employee contribution
You can choose to deduct and withhold a percentage of your rate from covered wages to pay for this tax. For employers of 15 or more employees, this percentage is limited to 50% or less.
Employers with 15 or more employees
Employers with 15 or more employees can enter an employee contribution of up to 50% in the field marked "Percentage of Rate". This is because employees can not pay more that 0.5% of total covered wages, which is half of the 1% rate.
Employers with fewer than 15 employees ("Exempt")
Employers with fewer than 15 employees can enter an employee contribution of up to 100% in the field marked "Percentage of Rate". This is because small employers have a reduced rate of 0.5%, which can be paid using employee withholdings.
Offering a self funded (Paid Leave Equivalent) plan
To be approved as a substantially equivalent private plan, your plan must be either a self-funded plan that requires a surety bond paid to the State, or a fully-funded plan purchased from an insurance company. An internal leave policy, on its own, does not meet these requirements.
Need help setting this up in OnPay? Refer to Paid Leave Equivalent plans for Maine employers→
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