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Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave

  • Updated

About the program

Washington's statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave insurance program which launched in 2019 is intended to provide wage replacement and job protection to employees who need time away from work to tend to family or medical needs. The program is funded by both employer and employee payroll contributions. 

What you need to know

  1. This statewide insurance plan requires employers to report employee wages, hours worked, and additional information every quarter.
  2. Premiums are 0.92% of gross wages paid up to the Social Security wage limit of $184,500.
  3. Workers can take leave for qualified events for up to 12 weeks generally, and up to 18 weeks under exceptional circumstances.
  4. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not required to pay the employer portion of the premium but are required to collect and remit the employee portion of the premium and abide by all reporting requirements. 

State resources and support

For more information on the program, please contact the Washington state customer care team:

Email: paidleave@esd.wa.gov

Phone: (833) 717-2273

 

 

How to set up a paid leave accrual in OnPay 

Go to Payroll, then Set up, and click Accrual Policies.

 

Click Add in the upper right to open the Policy Setup template.

 

The Policy Setup template is divided into two parts: 

  • Policy name and type
  • Policy setup 

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Policy name and type

Give this policy a unique name that sets it apart from other accruals. The name should make it very clear how and when this policy will apply. For this example, we'll make a sick time policy that accrues annually, but we'll explore many more examples later in this article.

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Determine the timeframe by which accrued time is earned. Your choices are “Per hour worked,” “Per pay period,” or “Annual on anniversary date” (hire date).

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Choose when these hours will expire, if ever. Your choices are “Hours do not expire”, “Hours expire on anniversary”, or “Hours expire on Jan 1st”.

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Select the accrual type. 

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Policy Setup

The Policy Setup is in three periods. This means hours accrued by workers can increase with their tenure in up to three stages. To create a probationary period, where no time is accrued until this introductory period is over, enter "0" per hour, then the number of months in the probationary period. If you don't want accruals to increase, enter the same information in each period. Unused hours will rollover to the next period. We'll explore more examples later.

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Note: Setting the "Cap" is not the same as setting a "rollover limit".

  • Some businesses limit the amount of unused time off that an employee can continue to hold going into a new year. This is to ensure that employees are taking the time they need to live a balanced and full life, as well as to protect the business from employees taking or cashing out large sums of paid time off all at once. We'll show you how to limit rollover in How to assign time off accrual policies to employees→

First two periods

For the first two periods, enter:

  • How many hours can be accrued each year
  • For how many months time is accrued at this rate
  • The limit, or cap for these hours.

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Third period

You don’t need to indicate the number of months in the third period. This period lasts for the remainder of the worker's employment.

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Click Create when you're ready to finalize this accrual. Clicking Not Now will close this window, but will not save your progress.

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FAQ

Below are some common questions asked by Washington employers about the program and how the deductions will appear in OnPay.

  • Yes, OnPay will deposit the withheld funds for both the employee and employer portion and file the necessary reports to the state.
  • No, employers must opt-in to have their portion calculate. To opt-in, go to Payroll Taxes and select "Washington".  Scroll down to the "Washington State Paid Family Leave and Medical Insurance Setup", and check the box "Employer Required".

  • Employers must opt-in to have their portion calculate, and will see this deduction on the payroll register or employee check stub. The title of the employee deduction is "FLI Withholding-WA" and the Employer portion will display as "Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave - Employer".

  • Go to the exempt employee's profile, and click Tax Withholding.

     

    Under "State Withholding", you'll see "Employe Paid Family Leave and Medical Insurance Exempt", where you can select True.

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