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Contacts:
General program questions: Paid Family and Medical Leave Customer Care Team, 833-717-2273 or email at paidleave@esd.wa.gov
Media inquiries: Clare DeLong, Paid Family and Medical Leave Communications Manager, 360-878-0637

OLYMPIA - Monday marked a major milestone in the run-up to Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits becoming available statewide in January 2020. The new system launched for employer reporting and payments in time for 2019 quarters one and two reporting to begin on July 1.

“The successful launch of our employer reporting platform marks an important milestone for Washington state, our businesses, and for our workers,” shared Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi LeVine. “It provides the essential technology building block that we need so Washingtonians can start using Paid Family and Medical Leave in January of 2020. When finally available, our Paid Family Medical Leave system is designed to benefit all workers and businesses in Washington.”

Paid Family and Medical Leave was created through a bipartisan effort in the state Legislature in 2017. This statewide insurance program will allow workers in Washington paid leave to care for themselves or a family member through serious illness or injury, parental leave to bond with a new child coming into the home, and for military families for certain service-connected events. Workers are typically allowed up to 12 weeks of leave per year, with between 16 and 18 weeks in some special circumstances.

Employers began collecting premiums for the program on Jan. 1, 2019 and have from July 1 to August 31 to complete their 2019 quarter one and quarter two reports and payments. As this is a new program and technology system, Employment Security extended the deadline for reporting from July 31 to August 31. The department is encouraging employers to begin the account creation process as early as possible to ensure they have enough time to set up their account, file and pay for both quarters before the August 31 deadline.

Resources for employers can be found at paidleave.wa.gov/reporting:

• How-to report videos
• Reporting instructions
• Before you report checklist
• Frequently Asked Questions

“Washington is leading the way on providing an essential program to increase support and economic security for working families, the middle class and businesses throughout our state,” LeVine added. “I encourage all employers to go to our website, paidleave.wa.gov, for more information, or contact our Customer Care Team with their questions.”

The reporting system will be closed and unavailable during a series of planned outages throughout July and August. These outages will allow the time to address any system issues or irregularities that arise during the first week post-launch and each week throughout the reporting period. Scheduled outages are:

• 12 to 1 p.m. daily July 1 through July 5
• 3 to 5 p.m. each Tuesday through reporting period (July 9, 16, 23 and 30; August 6,13, 20, 27)

The program’s website, paidleave.wa.gov, will be available during all planned outages, and the Customer Care Team will be available 8:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday. Phone lines will be closed all day on July 4.

Announcements and maintenance schedules are posted at paidleave.wa.gov/support.

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