Momentum for Mandatory Paid Family & Medical Leave Continues To Build

Minnesota has become the 12th state (including Washington DC) to enact mandated paid family and medical leave, and Maine appears to be close behind. 

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Joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington DC, the new bill out of Minnesota will go into effect beginning in January of 2026 and will be overseen by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. 

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The policy will apply to both full-time and part-time workers, although there are some limited cut outs and exceptions. Eligible employees can attain these benefits in the event they find themselves dealing with certain qualifying issues, including serious medical problems, parental leave, family emergencies, safety concerns, and other situations that meet the statutory criteria.

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Employees that satisfy all the requisite conditions are able to receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave for each type of leave that may apply to them, though total paid leave available under the law is capped at 20 weeks in a full benefit year.

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Under the system constructed by Minnesota’s legislature, employees will receive payment on a weekly basis. Those payments will be calculated as a percentage of their average weekly pay based on each employees’ average number of work hours and pay rate during the highest quarter of historical data during which each employee’s baseline wages and work hours were measured.

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The percentages applied to each employees average weekly pay are as follows:

• Eligible employees can receive 90% of their average weekly pay that doesn’t exceed 50% of the average weekly pay across Minnesota as a whole;
• Eligible employees can also receive 66% of their wages that fall between 50% and 100% of the average weekly wage in Minnesota; and
• Eligible employees can receive 55% of of their wages that exceed 100% of the state’s average weekly wage

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As for premiums, for Minnesota employers that participate in both the family and medical leave enrollments, the premium rates will be 7%, although that figure will be lower for employers that participate in only one of the programs supplemented by an approved private plan.

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In Maine, on the other hand, enacting paid family and medical leave is still a work in progress, but the effort appears to be on track via Legislative Document 1964, which makes it possible for qualifying employees to take as many as 12 weeks of paid leave per year. 

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The triggering events and conditions that allow for leave under the proposed law are pretty broad, as is the definition of family, which should make the ultimate application of the law fairly flexible compared to some other states’ efforts. 

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The methodology for calculating wage payouts under the law is a bit simpler in Maine than Minnesota, though Maine does require employees to have met a certain earnings threshold over the previous 3 months in order to qualify. Employees that meet all the required elements will receive 90% of their average weekly wages. 

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In the meantime, while Minnesota continues preparations for implementing these new policies and Maine presumably continues making progress toward enacting similar ones, Oregon and Colorado have already begun collecting deductions from payrolls in order to fund their own family and medical leave policies that go live this year and next year, respectively.

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Which state will be the next to make a significant push toward mandatory paid family and medical leave remains to be seen, but with nearly a quarter of states already there or well on their way, the momentum is clearly in these benefits favor. 

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You can read more about these developments here. 

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