WA PFML: Washington Governor Jay Inslee has signed legislation to amend the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act effective January 1, 2024. The amendment allows certain “interested parties” to access information regarding paid leave claims.

• “Interested parties” as defined in the amendments include a current employer, current employee’s third-party administrator, or an employee.
• Interested parties may access the following types of records/information:
  • Type of leave taken
  • Requested duration and approved dates of leave
  • Remaining hours of available leave
  • Weekly leave benefit amount
  • Benefits paid and hours claimed

PFML and WA Cares Rule Changes: The Washington Employment Security Department has adopted rules that add new requirements for quarterly reporting for the state’s PFML and long-term care (WA Cares) programs, both of which are submitted on a single platform. The rules also contain several corrections and clarifications of definitions used in administering the PFML program. The new rules are effective July 1, 2023.

• To ensure that work history and premium assessments are reported accurately, employers must add employees’ birth dates when filing quarterly wage reports for PFML and WA Cares.
• To prevent missing reports from being flagged for audit, employers must report “no payroll” – for a maximum of eight consecutive quarters – when they have no paid wages to report.
• The definition of “placement” of a child, for purposes of determining PFML benefit eligibility for parental/bonding leave, has been updated to exclude any arrangement whereby:
  • A child was previously in the care and custody of a parent and remains in that same parent’s care and custody (i.e., a change only in the legal status of a care and custody arrangement)
  • A child is returned to or placed in the care and custody of a parent whose entitlement to parental/bonding leave for that child has already expired