Washington maternity leave and paid family leave

Washington automatically treats the first 6 weeks after you give birth (the 'postnatal period') as medical leave. You don't need a medical certification and there's no waiting week, just proof of birth. Leave before birth for pregnancy incapacity needs a medical certification and has a waiting week. You can then add family leave to bond, up to 16 weeks total, or 18 if you had a pregnancy complication causing incapacity (ESD's examples are bed rest or a C-section). Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave pays up to 12 weeks to bond with your baby. The legal maximum for your own health condition is 14 weeks, and medical and family leave together are capped at 18 weeks a year.

90% of your average weekly wage up to half the state average weekly wage, plus 50% of the amount above that. Minimum $100/week; maximum $1,647/week in 2026 ($1,542 in 2025). Your max is locked in for the claim year you start. The weekly maximum in 2026 is $1,647, a ceiling rather than a typical benefit.

The PFML law itself protects your job (RCW 50A.35.010) if you've worked for your employer at least 180 calendar days and it has 25 or more employees in 2026. That threshold drops to 15+ in 2027 and 8+ from 2028; there's no hours requirement. Your employer must restore you to the same or an equivalent job and, starting 2026, keep your health coverage. Exceptions: the top 10% of salaried earners (if restoring them would cause serious financial harm and they get notice), and jobs that would not have existed anyway. Without PFML job protection, federal FMLA or other laws may apply.

You must have worked 820 hours in Washington in your qualifying period (about the first 4 of the last 5 completed quarters). Full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal work all count, and you don't need to be currently employed. Workers at businesses of all sizes are covered. Not covered: federal employees, tribal-business employees on tribal land, workers on an approved employer voluntary plan (who apply through that plan), and self-employed people who haven't opted in.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a birth and to care for the newborn, or for their own serious health condition, including pregnancy complications and recovery from childbirth. Health coverage continues during leave, and you return to the same or an equivalent job.