New deduction
New payroll deduction starts Jan. 1 to fund paid leave law.
A new payroll deduction will appear on Connecticut employees’ paychecks starting on Jan. 1 that will fund the state’s new paid leave law. The act significantly expands benefits for workers who take extended time off for personal illness, or to care for a family member or loved one.
The law, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in June 2019, is one of the most expansive in the nation. Connecticut workers will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid leave, with two additional weeks of paid time off available for employees who experience a serious pregnancy-related health complication.
Employees can begin collecting benefits on Jan. 1, 2022. Employer registration for the program opened earlier this month and is accessible online. Sole proprietors and self-employed individuals can opt into the program if they desire.
What are qualifying reasons for leave?
Qualifying reasons include the birth of a child or placement of a child with your family for adoption or foster care; caring for your own serious health condition or that of a family member; serving as an organ or bone marrow donor; caring for a family member in the military injured on active duty or being called to overseas active duty; and being impacted by family violence.
Who is eligible under the new law?
Employers of one or more people are covered, in addition to sole proprietors and self-employed individuals, as long as they remain in the plan for at least three years.
Paid leave will be available for employees who have earned at least $2,325 in the highest-earning quarter of the first four of the past five quarters. Employees must be currently employed and working in Connecticut, or previously employed and working in the state during the 12 weeks immediately preceding the leave request. The new law will provide job protection following three months of employment.
How much leave is available?
Under the new law, up to 12 weeks of paid leave will be available in a 12-month period. An
additional two weeks of leave may be available due to a serious pregnancy-related health complication. An employer can compel an employee to use accrued time off, but must allow an employee to keep up to two weeks of accrued leave. If an employee does not have enough accrued time to cover the leave, the employee may contact the Paid Leave Authority to apply for paid leave benefits. An employee may be eligible to receive benefits from the Paid Leave Authority even if the employee is not eligible for job-protected leave.
How is this different from the current law?
Right now, the state’s family medical leave only applies to employers with 75 employees or more, and to qualify, an employee must have worked at least 12 months for the employer and at least 1,000 hours preceding the request for leave. Job protection is available after 12 months of employment.
Qualifying employees can receive 16 weeks of leave in a 24-month period — but the employer can compel the employee to use all accrued time for paid leave.
How much will be deducted from my paycheck?
The new paid leave program is funded through employee payroll deductions that will begin Jan. 1, 2021. The deductions are capped at 0.5% of an employee’s wages, up to the Social Security contribution base. So if you earn $500 a week, your contribution will be about $2.50 per week. You can estimate your contribution on the calculator at ctpaidleave.org.
The Connecticut Paid Leave Authority expects to raise about $485 million in collections by the end of the first year and to see about $325 million in claims across all categories, according to Andrea Barton Reeves, CEO of the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority.
How much can I get paid through the program?
If your wages are less than or equal to the state minimum wage multiplied by 40, your weekly benefit rate will be 95% of your average weekly wage. Forty times the minimum wage will be $520 weekly in Jan. 2022, increasing to $560 on July 1, 2022, and $600 on June 1, 2023.
If your wages exceed the state minimum wage multiplied by 40, your weekly benefit rate will be 95% of the state minimum wage multiplied by 40, plus 60% of the amount your average weekly wage exceeds the state minimum wage multiplied by 40. The benefit rate is capped at 60 times the state minimum wage, which will be $780 weekly in January 2022, increasing to $840 on July 1, 2022 and $900 on June 1, 2023.
Who qualifies as a ‘family member’?
The current definition of a family member is “a spouse, sibling, daughter or son, grandparent, grandchild or parent; or, an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity, and whose close association the employee shows to be the equivalent of those family relationships.”
The Connecticut Paid Leave Authority is borrowing guidance from other states that have a “pretty expansive definition of family,” Barton Reeves said. The authority is currently receiving public comment on this issue, through Friday, and plans to work with the Department of Labor to provide employers with more specific guidance.
Who is not covered under the new law?
Employees of the state of Connecticut are not covered, except for managerial, non-union staff or members of unions that vote to participate in the plan. Employees of municipalities or local and regional boards of education are also not covered, unless employees are members of unions that vote to participate in it. (In the case of municipalities and local or regional boards of education, if unionized employees opt to participate in the plan, the entire workforce will participate in the plan, whether they are in the union or not.) Non-public elementary or secondary school employees are also exempt from the plan.
Can employers still offer private plans?
Yes, though the private plan must offer the same or better benefits as the public plan and it cannot cost employees more than it would cost them to participate in the public plan (0.5%). An employer must hold a vote to seek employee approval of the private plan option, earning majority approval from eligible employees who work in the state. The Paid Leave Authority must also approve the private plan.