Florida does not have a paid family leave program. No state law requires private employers to give you paid time off for a new baby, a family member’s illness, or your own serious health condition. If you work for a private company in Florida, your paid leave depends entirely on what your employer chooses to offer. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives most eligible workers up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but that leave is unpaid.
Why Florida Has No State Program
Florida is not among the states that fund paid family leave through a payroll-tax insurance program. The legislature has never passed a mandatory paid leave law for private-sector employees, and it has also blocked cities and counties from creating one locally. Under Florida Statute 218.077, local governments cannot require private employers to provide employment benefits beyond what state or federal law already mandates.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 218.077 – Wage and Employment Preemption The statute defines “employment benefits” broadly enough to cover paid sick leave, vacation, and other paid time off.
Recent efforts to expand paid leave even for state workers have stalled. SB 76 in 2025 and SB 220 in 2026, both aimed at expanding paid parental leave for state employees, died in committee without a floor vote.2Florida Senate. SB 220 – Paid Parental Leave
The 2023 Voluntary Insurance Law Does Not Give You Paid Leave
You may have seen headlines about a 2023 Florida paid family leave law. Read carefully. In 2023, the legislature passed HB 721, which authorized life insurance companies to design and sell paid family leave policies to employers.3Florida Senate. CS/CS/HB 721 – Paid Family Leave Insurance The law is codified at Florida Statute 627.445 and took effect in May 2023.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 627.445 – Paid Family Leave Insurance
The law creates no right to paid leave. It gives insurers the go-ahead to offer these products and gives employers the option to buy them. If your employer buys a policy, you get the benefit. If not, the law does nothing for you. The bill’s own legislative analysis states that HB 721 “does not create a right to paid family leave benefits for employees not otherwise eligible under FMLA.”5Florida Senate. House of Representatives Staff Final Bill Analysis – CS/CS/HB 721 Paid Family Leave Insurance
What FMLA Covers in Florida
For most Florida workers, the only guaranteed leave protection is the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period.6U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act You can use it for:
- The birth of a child, or placement of a child with you for adoption or foster care
- Your own serious health condition
- Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition7U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
Military families have a larger benefit. If you are the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a current servicemember or a veteran discharged within the past five years who has a serious injury or illness, you can take up to 26 workweeks of leave in a single 12-month period.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M – Using FMLA Leave Because of a Family Members Military Service
Are You Eligible?
Three requirements must all be met. You must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during those 12 months, and work at a location where your employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.6U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act FMLA applies to private companies meeting that threshold. It also covers all public agencies and public or private elementary and secondary schools regardless of employee count.
If you work for a small private employer that falls below the 50-employee threshold, FMLA does not apply to you at all. In that case, any leave protection depends on your employer’s own policies.
Giving Notice
When your leave is foreseeable, like a planned surgery or an expected due date, you must give your employer at least 30 days’ advance notice. If 30 days is not possible because of a change in circumstances or a medical emergency, notify your employer as soon as practicable.9U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Timing of Employee Notice If you had 30 days to plan and said nothing, your employer can delay the start of your leave.
Job and Health Insurance Protection
FMLA leave is unpaid, but the law protects more than just your right to take time off. Your employer must keep your group health insurance in place on the same terms as if you were still working. Family coverage stays family coverage. You continue paying your normal share of the premium, but your employer cannot drop you or downgrade your benefits while you are out.10U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28A – Employee Protections Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
When your leave ends, you are entitled to return to the same position or one equivalent in pay, benefits, and working conditions. Federal law makes retaliation illegal, and retaliation covers more than firing. Using your leave against you in a promotion decision, discouraging you from taking leave, counting FMLA absences under a no-fault attendance policy, or manipulating your schedule to sidestep FMLA all violate the law.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts You can file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or bring a private lawsuit.
How to Get Paid During Leave
Since FMLA is unpaid, the practical question is how to keep money coming in. There are two main options.
Substituting Accrued Paid Time Off
Federal regulations let you use accrued paid leave, meaning vacation, sick time, or PTO, during unpaid FMLA leave. Your employer can also require you to do so. When paid leave runs concurrently with FMLA, you receive your regular paycheck while both balances draw down at once.12eCFR. 29 CFR 825.207 – Substitution of Paid Leave Once your accrued time runs out, the remaining FMLA weeks are unpaid.
Short-Term Disability Insurance
Florida does not operate a state disability insurance program. Only a handful of states do. But many Florida employers offer private short-term disability coverage as a workplace benefit, and you can buy an individual policy on your own. These policies generally replace 40% to 70% of your salary for a limited period, typically a few weeks to several months. Short-term disability covers your own medical events, including recovery from surgery, serious illness, and childbirth. It does not cover time off to care for a family member.
What to Check at Your Own Workplace
Because Florida law imposes no paid leave requirements, what you actually get depends on your employer. Larger companies are more likely to offer some combination of PTO, parental leave, and short-term disability. Smaller businesses often offer none. Look in your employee handbook or benefits portal for:
- PTO or vacation balance and whether you can use it during FMLA leave
- Any paid parental leave the company offers beyond FMLA, and whether it applies equally to birth and non-birth parents
- Short-term disability coverage, what percentage of salary it replaces, and how long benefits last
- Whether your employer has purchased a paid family leave policy under the 2023 Florida insurance framework
If your employer offers a paid leave benefit, it must be applied consistently to all eligible workers. A company cannot selectively deny a benefit its own written policy promises to a class of employees you belong to.
Paid Parental Leave for State Employees
One group of Florida workers does have paid family leave: state government employees. Since December 11, 2023, eligible employees in the State Personnel System receive seven weeks of paid maternity leave for a birth mother’s recovery and two weeks of paid parental leave available to both mothers and fathers following a birth or adoption.13MyBenefits – Florida Department of Management Services. Paid Parental Leave Eligibility requires at least one year of cumulative service within the State Personnel System during the previous seven years and at least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before leave. The benefit covers Career Service, Selected Exempt Service, and Senior Management Service positions. Private-sector workers have no equivalent.
How Paid Leave Benefits Are Taxed
Paid family leave benefits are taxable income at the federal level. The IRS confirmed in Revenue Ruling 2025-4 that family leave payments count as gross income whether they come from a state program or a private insurance policy.14Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4 These payments are not wages for Social Security, Medicare, or federal unemployment tax purposes, so no FICA is withheld, but you will owe income tax when you file. If your benefits exceed $600 in a year, the payer must issue you a Form 1099.
If you substitute accrued PTO or sick leave during FMLA, that money is treated like normal wages, with income tax, Social Security, and Medicare withheld as usual. The distinction matters most when benefits come through a separate insurance policy that withholds nothing at the source. Plan for the tax bill.