OLR Report 2016-R-0030 describes the main provisions of the paid family leave programs in California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
These states have programs that provide employees with limited wage replacement benefits when they miss work to care for their family members. Because all three programs are administered through their state’s disability insurance program, employees in each state can also receive benefits if they must take leave for their own health conditions, including pregnancies, although they must be continuously and totally unable to perform their customary work in order to qualify.
The paid family leave programs generally require eligible employees to have a certain amount of earnings from which deductions to fund the benefits have been withheld over the base period or year preceding their leave. In California, employees contribute 0.9% of up to $106, 742 of wages to fund both the disability insurance and the paid family leave programs. In Rhode Island employees contribute 1.2% from the first $64,200 in earnings to fund these programs. And in New Jersey employees contribute 0.08% of their first $32,600 to fund the programs.
For more information, read the full report here.
