Washington PFML Calculator 2026

Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) is funded by a 1.13% premium on wages in 2026 (up to the Social Security wage cap of $184,500). The premium is split 71.43% employee / 28.57% employer for businesses with 50+ employees. Smaller employers may opt out of paying the employer share, leaving employees to pay only their portion. Updated 2026-08-04.

Washington PFML Premium Structure 2026

Employees pay roughly 0.8072% of wages (71.43% of 1.13%) and employers with 50+ workers pay the remaining 0.3229% (28.57% of 1.13%). For example, a worker earning $80,000 pays about $646/year in PFML premium; the employer contributes another $258. Employers can choose to cover the entire premium voluntarily — many tech firms in Seattle do this as a benefit. Source: Washington Employment Security Department (ESD).

Benefit Calculation: Up to $1,647 per Week

PFML benefits replace 90% of wages up to 50% of the State Average Weekly Wage ($915 in 2026, half of the $1,830 SAWW), plus 50% of wages above that threshold, capped at a max weekly benefit of $1,647. Workers earning the SAWW or less get 90% replacement. Higher earners get a blended rate. The formula favors lower-wage workers — exactly as designed by the legislature in RCW 50A.

Leave Types and Duration

PFML covers (1) Medical Leave for your own serious health condition (up to 12 weeks), (2) Family Leave for bonding with a new child or caring for a seriously ill family member (up to 12 weeks), and (3) Combined Medical+Family Leave (up to 16 weeks, or 18 weeks if you experience pregnancy complications). Most claims are for childbirth recovery + bonding (often used as a combined 18-week leave).

Washington PFML Rate Increase 2026: 0.92% to 1.13%

The Employment Security Department raised the total PFML premium from 0.92% in 2025 to 1.13% in 2026 — a 23% jump, and the largest single-year increase since the program launched. At the same time the taxable wage cap rose from $176,100 to $184,500, so high earners are hit twice. Concretely, a Washington worker on $100,000 now pays about $807/year in employee premium (up from roughly $657), an extra $150 a year, or about $5.77 per biweekly paycheck. First-quarter premiums at the new rate were due by the end of April 2026. Read the announcement at the Washington ESD 2026 premium rate news release. Updated 2026-08-04.

Paid Leave Is Not Job Protection: The 820-Hour Test vs FMLA

The gap that catches Washington workers out is that qualifying for the benefit and keeping your job are two separate tests with two different thresholds. Benefit eligibility is the easier one: you need 820 hours of work in Washington during the qualifying period, and those hours count across all your employers, including part-time and seasonal work, so people who assume they are ineligible because no single job was full-time often are eligible. Job protection is not part of that. Your position is only protected if you separately meet the FMLA-style conditions — roughly a year with the same employer, enough hours with that one employer, and an employer above the size threshold. A worker who stitched together 820 hours across two small employers can therefore be paid by Paid Leave and still have no legal right to their job back. Check both before you file: if you qualify for the benefit but not for job protection, ask your employer in writing what they will hold, and get the answer before the leave starts. Continuation of health coverage during leave follows the same FMLA-linked logic rather than the benefit rules. Eligibility checkers and the current hours test are at paidleave.wa.gov.

Common Washington PFML Mistakes

(1) Forgetting it's premium-capped at SSA wages — earnings above $184,500 in 2026 are NOT subject to PFML premium. (2) Small-employer confusion — under 50 employees: only employee pays. 50+: employer must pay 28.57% share. (3) Missing the 820-hour rule — you must work 820 hours in the qualifying period (about 16 hours/week for a year) to be eligible. (4) Skipping the 7-day waiting period — most leaves have a 7-day unpaid waiting period before benefits start (waived for bonding leave).

How to Apply for Washington PFML — and the Waiting Week

Premiums are only half the picture; the part that catches people out is the waiting week. Washington PFML applies a seven-day unpaid waiting period to medical leave, but it does not apply to bonding leave after a birth or placement, so a parent taking bonding leave is paid from day one while someone on their own medical leave is not. Give your employer written notice at least 30 days ahead when the leave is foreseeable, such as a scheduled surgery or an expected due date. You apply through your own account at Paid Leave Washington, upload the certification your provider completes, and then file a weekly claim for every week you want paid — the application alone does not release money, and missed weekly claims are the most common reason a benefit stops mid-leave. Full application steps are at paidleave.wa.gov.