Maryland FAMLI Paid Leave Calculator

Maryland's Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program covers paid time off for bonding with a new child, caring for a family member, or recovering from a serious health condition. Contributions have not started yet: the Maryland Department of Labor set the initial rate at 0.9% of wages up to the Social Security wage base, split equally between employer and employee, and that rate applies to wages paid from 1 January 2027 through 31 December 2027. Benefits become available in January 2028. Use this as a budgeting estimate for the 2027 contribution year, not as a figure to withhold today.

Maryland FAMLI Contribution Rate and When It Starts

Employers with 15 or more workers pay 0.45% and withhold a further 0.45% from employees, a combined 0.9% on wages up to the Social Security wage base. Employers with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from the employer share — only the 0.45% employee portion is withheld. The dates matter more than the rate right now: payroll deductions begin January 2027, the first quarterly wage report and contribution remittance are due in April 2027, employee notices start July 2027, and benefits open in January 2028. Employer registration is already live, and every employer with at least one Maryland employee must register — there are no exceptions under state law. The Social Security wage base is reset annually by the SSA, and the 2027 figure is not published until late 2026, so the cap above is editable: enter the base for the year you are budgeting rather than relying on a number baked into this page. Source: Maryland FAMLI — Make contributions. Updated 2026-09-09.

How the Weekly Benefit Is Calculated

Maryland FAMLI replaces a portion of your average weekly wage using a progressive formula similar to other state PFML programs. The maximum weekly benefit is $1,000 when benefits open in January 2028. Lower-wage workers receive a higher percentage of replacement, while higher earners are capped by the statutory ceiling. The Maryland Department of Labor publishes annual updates to the formula tiers as state average weekly wages change.

Leave Duration and Eligibility

Workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave for any one qualifying reason in a 12-month application year, with a combined maximum of 24 weeks when stacking medical and family leave. You must have worked at least 680 hours in the four most-recent quarters to be eligible. Benefits launch in January 2028, with claims processed by the Maryland Department of Labor's FAMLI Division. The implementation timeline was extended from the originally legislated dates, which is why older guidance still circulating online quotes a 2025 or 2026 start.

Last updated 2026-09-09. Dates and rate verified against the official programme site: paidleave.maryland.gov (Maryland Department of Labor, FAMLI Division).

Maryland FAMLI and FMLA: How the Two Leaves Interact

Maryland's FAMLI programme replaces income; the federal Family and Medical Leave Act protects the job. They are separate rules and they run at the same time where both apply, so an eligible worker taking leave for a qualifying reason is normally using FAMLI benefit weeks and FMLA job-protected weeks concurrently rather than one after the other.

The distinction matters in two places. FMLA covers employers with 50 or more employees and requires a service and hours test, so a worker at a small employer can qualify for FAMLI pay while having no FMLA job protection behind it. And FMLA leave is unpaid on its own — US Department of Labor FMLA guidance sets out the entitlement, but the wage replacement in Maryland comes from FAMLI. Use the contribution and benefit figures above for the pay side, then check headcount and tenure separately to see whether the job is protected while the leave runs. Updated 2026-09-16.

The Private Plan Exemption: How a Maryland Employer Can Opt Out of State FAMLI

An employer does not have to pay into the state fund if it runs its own plan instead. Maryland allows a private plan — self-insured or through an insurer — provided it gives employees benefits at least as generous as the state program in every respect: same qualifying reasons, same leave duration, same or better wage replacement, and no greater cost to the employee than the state's employee share. Private plans must be approved by the Maryland Department of Labor before they replace state contributions, and approval is not retroactive, so an employer planning to use one needs it in place before payroll deductions begin. If you are an employer comparing options, use the employer figure from the calculator above as the benchmark a private plan has to beat on total cost, not just on premium. Program rules are published at Maryland Paid Leave (Maryland Department of Labor). Updated 2026-09-25.

Reading the Employer and Employee Split — and What It Costs Per Paycheck

The calculator shows two numbers because two parties pay. The employee share comes out of gross wages as a payroll deduction and reduces take-home pay; the employer share is a business cost on top of wages, not a deduction from them. Divide the annual employee figure by your number of pay periods to see the real per-paycheck effect — for most workers that is a far smaller number than the annual total suggests, and it is the figure worth quoting to staff before deductions start. Two details change the result: the contribution stops once wages pass the Social Security wage base for that year, so high earners pay nothing on the excess, and an employer with fewer than 15 employees owes no employer share at all while still withholding and remitting the employee portion. Updated 2026-09-25.