Paid family leave claims are triple what was anticipated
OLYMPIA — Weekly benefits under Washington’s new paid family leave law are now taking up to 10 weeks to process because of the high number of people applying for the program.
Under the law, eligible workers receive 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child or for a serious medical condition of the worker or the worker’s family member, or 16 weeks for a combination of both. An additional two weeks may be used if there is a serious health condition with a pregnancy.
Weekly benefits under the new law are calculated based on a percentage of the employee’s wages and the state’s weekly average wage — which is now $1,255 — though the weekly amount paid out is capped at $1,000.
In the first six weeks since the the program went live last month, more than 30,000 people have applied — more than triple the amount that was projected in that same time frame, according to the Washington Employment Security Department, which administers the program.
https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/paid-family-leave-claims-are-triple-what-was-anticipated/
