Maryland does not currently offer paid maternity leave, but it will. The state’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, known as FAMLI, will pay eligible new parents up to $1,000 per week for up to 12 weeks starting January 3, 2028.1Maryland FAMLI. About the Program Until benefits begin, Maryland parents rely on unpaid, job-protected leave under state and federal law. If you’re expecting a child before 2028, plan around unpaid leave.
What Maryland Offers Right Now
Two laws currently protect your job while you’re out with a new baby. Neither one pays you.
Maryland Parental Leave Act
If your employer has between 15 and 49 workers, the Maryland Parental Leave Act gives you up to six workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child or a child’s placement through adoption or foster care.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-1202 You generally need at least 12 months of employment and 1,250 hours of service with that employer to qualify. The leave itself is unpaid, though if your employer already offers paid leave, it can require you to substitute that paid leave for part or all of the six weeks.
Federal Family and Medical Leave Act
If you work for a larger employer with 50 or more employees, the federal FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth or placement of a child, among other qualifying reasons.3eCFR. 29 CFR 825.111 Like the state Parental Leave Act, FMLA guarantees your job, not your paycheck.
To bridge the income gap, workers typically stack accrued PTO, vacation, sick leave, and any private short-term disability coverage their employer offers. That patchwork is what “maternity leave” looks like in Maryland today.
When Paid Benefits Start
The Time to Care Act created FAMLI as a state-administered insurance fund under Maryland Code, Labor and Employment Title 8.3. The original schedule had contributions starting in mid-2025 and benefits in mid-2026, but House Bill 102, signed May 6, 2025, pushed both back. Payroll withholding now begins January 1, 2027, and benefits become available no later than January 3, 2028.5Maryland FAMLI. About the Program
Who Will Qualify
To draw a benefit, you’ll need to have worked at least 680 hours in Maryland during the four most recently completed calendar quarters before your leave begins.4Maryland General Assembly. House Bill 102 Chapter Text Those hours can come from a single employer or from several combined. It works out to roughly 17 weeks of full-time work over the prior year.
Coverage reaches almost every employee in Maryland, including workers at very small businesses. Company size doesn’t affect your eligibility for benefits, only your employer’s contribution obligations. FAMLI is also gender-neutral: birthing parents, non-birthing parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents all qualify for bonding leave on the same terms.
How Much You’ll Be Paid
FAMLI uses a two-tier formula tied to the state average weekly wage (SAWW). If your average weekly wages are at or below 65% of the SAWW, your benefit replaces 90% of your pay. If you earn more than that, you get 90% on the portion of your wages up to 65% of the SAWW plus 50% on the portion above it.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-703 Lower earners get a higher replacement rate; higher earners hit the ceiling sooner.
No one receives more than $1,000 per week during the program’s initial phase, regardless of what the formula produces.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-703 Combined FAMLI benefits and any additional employer-paid leave also can’t exceed 100% of your regular wages.
How Long You Can Take Off
The standard benefit is 12 weeks in an application year. You can receive up to 24 weeks total if you qualify under more than one covered category in the same year. The common example for new mothers: 12 weeks to bond with the baby plus additional weeks for your own serious health condition, such as recovery from childbirth complications.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-703
You don’t have to use all 12 weeks in a single block. Under the state plan, FAMLI allows intermittent leave in increments as short as four hours, unless your scheduled shift is shorter.7Maryland FAMLI. For Employees That lets you stretch the benefit across several months, ease back into work part-time, or reserve days for pediatric appointments. If your employer runs a private plan instead of using the state fund, the minimum increment may differ.
Your Job While You’re Out
When your FAMLI leave ends, your employer must restore you to an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-706 During leave, the employer can only terminate you for cause, not simply because you’re out.
There is one narrow exception. An employer can deny restoration if doing so is necessary to prevent “substantial and grievous economic injury” to its operations, but it must notify you of that intent before you lose restoration rights. If your leave has already started when the notice arrives, you get the chance to return to work immediately rather than lose your position.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-706 The exception is aimed at very small operations where losing a key employee for months could threaten the business.
PTO, Disability, and Employer Plans
Your employer cannot force you to burn through accrued vacation or PTO before taking FAMLI leave. That choice is yours.9Maryland FAMLI. Leave Management An employer can require you to use unpaid leave concurrently with FAMLI, but paid time off you’ve earned stays under your control.
Private short-term disability coverage does not reduce your FAMLI benefit.10Maryland FAMLI. FAMLI Claims Questions October 2025 Some employers may restructure their disability policies to top off FAMLI payments up to 100% of your regular wages or to extend coverage past 12 weeks. That’s an employer choice, not a legal requirement, so check your benefits handbook when the time comes.
Your employer may also opt out of the state fund by running an approved private plan that matches or exceeds state benefits.11Maryland FAMLI. Private Plans If yours does, you file your claim through that plan rather than the state, but your benefit amount is calculated on the same two-tier formula and cannot fall below what the state plan would provide.12Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 8.3-705
Planning a Maryland Maternity Leave Before 2028
If your baby is due before January 2028, assume no state paid benefit will be available. Confirm which unpaid law applies to you based on your employer’s size, check how much PTO and sick leave you can accrue before your due date, and ask HR whether the company offers short-term disability that covers pregnancy and childbirth. Detailed FAMLI claim instructions, including the documentation required for bonding leave, are still being finalized by the Maryland Department of Labor and will be published before the January 2028 launch.10Maryland FAMLI. FAMLI Claims Questions October 2025