April 2022: Washington, D.C. Dramatically Increases Paid Leave

Update Applicable to:
All employers in the city of Washington, D.C.

What happened?
Due to a surplus in the District of Columbia’s Paid Leave Fund, the number of weeks of paid leave available to D.C. workers under D.C. Universal Paid Leave Act will significantly increase on July 1, 2022.

What are the details?
Under the Universal Paid Leave Emergency Amendment Act of 2021 (PLEAA), the District’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) may modify the maximum duration of leave available under the PFL program annually depending upon the projected balance of the Universal Paid Leave Fund. 

On March 1, 2022, the acting CFO certified that the Paid Leave Fund has enough money to increase the potential maximum duration of qualifying paid leave available to D.C. employees.

Currently, the law provides for a maximum of:

• Eight workweeks of parental leave;
• Six workweeks of family leave;
• Six workweeks of medical leave; and
• Two workweeks of pre-natal leave.

Starting on July 1, 2022, these maximums will increase to:

• 12 workweeks of parental leave;
• 12 workweeks of family leave;
• 12 workweeks of medical leave; and
• Two workweeks of pre-natal leave.

Once these new maximums take effect, there will be an overall cap of 12 weeks of paid leave available to each eligible D.C. employee per year.

In addition, the employer payroll tax used to fund this leave is being decreased from 0.62% to 0.26% as of July 1, 2022.

For more information, please see the links below:

DC Paid Family Leave

Article 1 – Article 2

What do employers need to do?
Employers should review the links provided above and prepare to make adjustments to their paid leave policies to ensure they are up to date.