States Seek to Expand Leave

The Family Medical Leave Act requires qualified employers to offer up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year to eligible employees who need time off for medical care for themselves or a family member. However, many states have sought to implement more generous leave policies, including the following slated to go into effect in 2020 and 2021:

• California – Employers are required to provide 30 additional days of unpaid leave to employees who donate an organ, to go into effect January 1, 2020. Additionally, they are expanding the paid family leave requirements from 6 to 8 weeks, beginning July 1, 2020.
• District of Columbia – Paid family leave will begin July 1, 2020. The Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016 provides for 8 weeks leave to bond with a new child, 6 weeks to care for a family member with a serious health condition, and 2 weeks for an employee to care for their own serious health condition.
• Illinois – The School Visitation Rights Act, which requires an employer to grand up to 8 hours a year for an employee to attend school functions, was expanded by House Bill 2830. Beginning August 1, 2020, employees cannot be terminated for attending behavioral or academic meetings regarding the employee’s child.
• Maine – Maine passed an act requiring that any employer that employers more than 10 employees for more than 120 days a calendar year must award employees with 1 hour paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year. This is to go into effect January 1, 2021.
• Nevada – Per Senate Bill 312, employers with 50 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours a year of paid leave to employees. Employees are entitled to at least .01923 hours of paid leave for each hour worked. This law is effective January 1, 2020.
• Oregon – Oregon, through the passage of Senate Bill 796, has added the donation of a body part, organ, or tissue to the definition of a “Serious health condition” for leave purposes, effective January 1, 2020.
• Washington – Beginning January 1, 2020, eligible employees may apply for Paid Family and Medical leave.