Paid Leave Legislative Activity

Signed by the governor on April 22, 2026, HB1207 requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning April 1, 2028. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning April 1, 2028. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly net earnings, not to exceed 100 percent of the statewide average weekly net earnings, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year, or 4 weeks in the case of paid leave for safety services and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program. This bill is identical to SB 2.

On July 11, 2023 Maine Governor Janet Trafton Mills signed a bill to create a Paid Family & Medical Leave program.  This program provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave per benefit year for an employee’s own serious health condition, to bond and care for a new child, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, and for qualifying military exigencies.  Contributions begin on January 1, 2025, with benefits effective May 1, 2026. Check in regularly to stay up to date as developments in this program occur.

Starting on January 1, 2026, parents with a newborn child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are eligible for an additional 12 weeks of leave to spend time with the child while hospitalized. If there were also pregnancy or childbirth complications, this could give birthing parents up to 28 total weeks of leave time.