Does Maryland Have Paid Family Leave? FAMLI Pay and Eligibility

Yes. Maryland has paid family leave through a state program called Family and Medical Leave Insurance, or FAMLI, which will pay eligible workers up to $1,000 per week for as long as 12 weeks in a 12-month period when they need time off to bond with a new child, handle a serious health condition, care for a family member, or manage certain military family needs. Payroll contributions that fund the program begin January 1, 2027, and benefit payments become available no later than January 3, 2028.¹

When You Can Actually Use It

The Time to Care Act created FAMLI, but House Bill 102, signed in 2025, pushed the launch back by roughly 18 months. As of early 2026, the Maryland Department of Labor’s FAMLI website shows a January 2028 start for benefits, though the Secretary of Labor has authority to open claims as early as January 1, 2027.²¹ So if you need paid leave in 2026, FAMLI won’t be available yet. Payroll contributions start a full year before benefits do.

Who Qualifies

You need to have worked at least 680 hours in Maryland over the four most recently completed calendar quarters before your claim. That averages out to about 17 hours a week, so part-time workers can qualify, not just full-time employees.³

Self-employed Maryland residents can opt into the program, but the enrollment rules, contribution amounts, and benefit levels for self-employed participants aren’t finalized. The Secretary of Labor must adopt those regulations by July 1, 2028.⁴ Until then, the specifics for self-employed workers remain undetermined.

What You Can Take Leave For

FAMLI covers five categories of leave:

Bonding with a new child during the first year after birth, adoption, foster placement, or kinship care placement.
Your own serious health condition, meaning an illness, injury, or condition that requires a hospital stay or ongoing treatment from a licensed provider, including planned surgery and recovery.
Caring for a family member with a serious health condition.
Needs tied to a family member’s military deployment, including preparing for deployment, arranging childcare, handling legal or financial matters, and attending post-deployment activities.
Caring for an injured service member whose serious health condition was caused or worsened by uniformed service.

The definition of “family member” is wide. It includes your child (adult children too), parent, spouse, domestic partner, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, and legal guardian or ward, and each of those covers biological, adopted, foster, and step relationships. Parents include anyone who acted as a parent to you or your spouse during childhood, and in-laws also count.⁵

Not every doctor visit qualifies as a serious health condition. The condition has to be significant enough to require continuing medical care or to keep you from working.⁵

How Much FAMLI Pays

The formula gives lower earners a higher percentage of their wages back. It works in two tiers based on the statewide average weekly wage:

If you earn 65% or less of the state average weekly wage, you receive 90% of your own average weekly wage.
If you earn more than 65% of the state average, you receive 90% of the portion of your wages up to that 65% threshold, plus 50% of the portion above it.

The maximum weekly benefit is $1,000, no matter what the formula produces. Your FAMLI benefit combined with any employer-provided paid leave also cannot exceed 100% of your average weekly wage.⁶ That $1,000 cap stays fixed until January 1, 2029, when it will begin adjusting for inflation each year.¹

How Long You Can Be Out

You can receive up to 12 weeks of benefits within a 12-month period. If two qualifying events hit in the same year, such as recovering from a serious health condition and then welcoming a new child, you can receive up to 12 weeks for each event, for a combined maximum of 24 weeks.⁷

There is no waiting period. You’re eligible for benefits starting the first day of leave, which differs from some state programs that make you wait a week before payments start.⁷

You also don’t have to take all 12 weeks at once. FAMLI allows intermittent leave, broken into blocks, with a minimum of four hours per absence under the state plan. You and your employer should agree on the schedule. A private plan may allow shorter increments.⁷

Job and Health Insurance Protection

Your employer must hold your position while you’re on FAMLI leave and return you to the same job or an equivalent one when you come back.⁸ Health insurance benefits continue during your leave on the same terms as if you were still at work.⁷

Two limits worth knowing. If you were hired for a specific project or fixed term that ended while you were on leave, your employer isn’t required to create a new position for you. And if a continuing health condition means you can’t perform the essential duties of your job when your leave ends, FAMLI’s restoration right doesn’t extend to a different job, though the Americans with Disabilities Act may separately require your employer to offer a reasonable accommodation.

How FAMLI Works With Federal FMLA

If you’re eligible for both Maryland FAMLI and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run concurrently. You don’t get 12 weeks of FMLA and then another 12 weeks of FAMLI on top; they overlap. The practical difference is that FMLA gives you unpaid, job-protected leave, and FAMLI adds the paycheck. FAMLI also covers more workers than FMLA does, since FMLA applies only to employers with 50 or more employees. If your leave qualifies for FAMLI but not FMLA, no FMLA time is used.⁹

Both spouses can take FAMLI leave at the same time, even if they work for the same employer.¹⁰

What It Costs You

The program is funded by payroll contributions shared between employers and employees. The initial total contribution rate announced in September 2023 was 0.9% of covered wages, split evenly at 0.45% each. The rate is capped by law at 1.2% per employee, and contributions apply only to wages up to the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 in 2026.¹¹¹² The Secretary of Labor will announce the actual rate for 2027 by May 1, 2026, so the final number may differ.

At 0.9%, a worker earning $60,000 a year would contribute about $270 annually, or $5.19 per weekly paycheck, with the employer matching that amount.¹¹ Small employers with fewer than 15 total employees only have to remit 50% of the total contribution rate, and they may withhold that whole amount from employee pay rather than covering a separate employer share.⁷

Filing a Claim

When benefits open, you’ll apply through the FAMLI portal at paidleave.maryland.gov. You can file up to 60 days before or after your leave starts.⁷ If your leave is foreseeable, like a planned surgery or an expected due date, your employer can require at least 30 days’ advance notice. For unexpected events, notify your employer as soon as you reasonably can.¹³

Health-related claims need certification from a licensed healthcare provider confirming the condition and expected duration. For child bonding, you’ll need documentation such as a birth certificate, adoption decree, or foster placement letter. Fill in every field on the certification forms. Incomplete information about medical necessity or the frequency of care is one of the most common reasons claims are delayed or denied.¹³ After you file, the Department of Labor notifies your employer, verifies your 680-hour work history, and reviews your supporting documents. Approved payments go directly to you.²

If Your Employer Uses a Private Plan

Employers can apply to offer a private plan instead of using the state plan, either through a commercial insurer or by self-insuring. Any private plan has to be approved by the FAMLI Division and must provide benefits and a claims experience at least as good as the state plan. If a private-plan employer withholds contributions from employee paychecks, the employee’s share cannot exceed what the state plan would charge.¹⁴

Private plans can be more generous, for example allowing intermittent leave in shorter blocks than the state plan’s four-hour minimum. If your employer announces it’s using a private plan, check that the benefit levels, covered events, and job protection at least match what the state plan would give you.

1
Maryland General Assembly. HB 102 Department of Legislative Services Fiscal Note
2
Maryland Department of Labor. Maryland FAMLI – Paid Family and Medical Leave Is Coming to Maryland
3
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-101
4
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-201
5
Maryland FAMLI, Family and Medical Leave Insurance. About the Program
6
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Labor and Employment Code Section 8.3-703
7
Maryland Department of Labor. FAMLI Frequently Asked Questions October 2025
8
Maryland FAMLI. For Employers
9
Maryland FAMLI, Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Leave Management
10
Maryland FAMLI. For Employees
11
Maryland FAMLI, Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Contributions
12
Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
13
Maryland Department of Labor. FAMLI Claims Questions October 2025
14
Maryland FAMLI, Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Private Plans