Washington Expands Paid Family Leave Act

The state of Washington has enacted legislation (House Bill 1213), which expands protections under the Washington Paid Family Leave Act. House Bill 1213 takes effect on Jan.  1, 2026.

The Details

Minimum Leave Amounts

The Washington Paid Family Leave Act currently requires an employee to take at least eight consecutive hours of leave per use. Beginning Jan.  1, 2026, House Bill 1213 reduces this amount to four consecutive hours of leave per use.

Eligibility for Job Restoration

Existing law requires employers with 50 or more employees to restore an employee that is returning from family and medical leave to the position they held when their leave commenced or its equivalent (with equivalent employment benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment).

Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, House Bill 1213 expands the job-restoration requirement to cover additional employers as follows:

Under existing law, an employee must also work for their covered employer for at least 12 months (length-of-service requirement) and for at least 1,250 hours (service-hours requirement) in the year before taking the leave to be eligible for job restoration.

Effective Jan.  1, 2026, House Bill 1213 reduces the length-of-service requirement to 180 days and removes the service-hours requirement.

Anti-Stacking Provision

House Bill 1213 also adds a mechanism to help prevent employees from stacking job protections under the state program with those under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Essentially, the provision is meant to help prevent employees from returning from one job-protected leave to then go out on another type of leave for the same issue when the employee’s issue qualifies for both types of leave.

Specifically, the right to job protection is extended to any period of unpaid leave protected by the FMLA where the employee was eligible for paid family and medical leave benefits but didn’t apply for and receive those benefits, so long as the employer provides certain written notice to the employee.

The notice must:

• Be provided:
• State the following:
  
  

Asserting Job Restoration Rights

Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, an employee must assert their right to job restoration to be entitled to it. Specifically, unless an agreement between the employer and employee states otherwise, an employee forfeits the right to job restoration if they fail to exercise it upon the earlier of the first scheduled workday following:

• The period of leave; or
  
• A continuous period of (or combined intermittent periods of) a total of 16 typical workweeks of leave taken during a period of 52 consecutive calendar weeks. Note: This period is extended to 18 typical workweeks of leave taken during a period of 52 consecutive calendar weeks if any of the leave was taken as a result of a serious health condition with a pregnancy resulting in incapacity.
  

Notice of End of Job Restoration Rights

For any continuous period of leave that exceeds two workweeks or any combined intermittent periods of leave exceeding three workdays, an employer must provide at least five business days’ advance written notice to the employee, regarding:

• The estimated expiration of the right of employment restoration; and
• The date of the employee's first scheduled workday.
  

For combined intermittent periods of leave, an employer may estimate the expiration of the right of employment restoration based on information provided to the employer by the employee and the DOLI.

Notice and Poster

Employers will be required to distribute an updated notice to employees and to display an updated poster (to be developed by the DOLI) of employees’ rights under the law.

Recordkeeping

The DOLI may conduct periodic audits of employer files and records.

Resources

House Bill 1213 also establishes a new $3,000 grant for employers with fewer than 50 employees to help cover the costs of hiring a temporary worker to:

• Replace an employee on leave for a period of seven days or more; or
• For significant additional wage related costs due to an employee's leave.

See the text of the law for further details.

Next steps

• Update leave policies and procedures and train supervisors on the changes under the law by Jan. 1, 2026.
  
• Monitor for notice and poster updates from the DOLI.