Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave Act. The Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave Act establishes a state program that generally allows eligible employees to apply for State-provided income replacement benefits during a leave of up to 12 weeks (or under certain circumstances up to 18 weeks) for qualifying reasons. Leave that is compensated under the PFML program will run concurrently with all other applicable paid or unpaid leave types available in this Agreement or by law, including FMLA leave, to the maximum extent allowed by law. Employees will be responsible for the employee premium share allowed by law, paid through payroll deduction. The Employer will pay the remaining portion of the premium.
Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave Act. Commencing January 1, 2020, employees shall be eligible to receive Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) under the Washington State Family and Medical Leave and Insurance Act. To be eligible for this leave, employees must have worked a minimum of 820 hours within the past calendar year. Employees may initiate the use of this leave prior to exhausting all accumulated sick leave (Appendix D). Commencing January 1, 2019, the District shall pay 37% of the payroll premium to fund this leave; the remaining portion of the premium (63%) will be deducted from the employee’s pay warrant. The District shall use the state insurance as the carrier for PFML to ensure ongoing compliance with the law. When such leave is used for pregnancy/maternity disability, the District shall maintain health insurance benefits during periods of approved PFML leave.
Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave Act. Beginning no sooner than Jan. 1, 2020, eligible employees will be covered by the Washington Paid Family Medical Leave (WPFML) insurance program. Beginning with the first full pay period following ratification of the 2019-2023 labor agreement between the parties, the Employer and Employee will be required to contribute 0.4% of gross wages to the program. The Parties have agreed that the Employer will be responsible for the entirety of the initial total premium, including the initial employee portion (sixty-three and thirty-three hundredths percent [63.33%] of four-tenths percent [0.4%] of gross wages). Should that state plan determine that greater contributions are required, any future increases to the employee premium beyond sixty-three and thirty- three hundredths percent (63.33%) of four-tenths percent (0.4%) of gross wages allowed or mandated by the state shall be borne by employees through payroll deduction. The employer shall be responsible for all remaining premiums. The parties agree that the employer shall have the option to convert from the state program to a voluntary program at its discretion, provided that there is no reduction in benefits from the state plan offering.
