How to Afford Family Caregiving, Part 1: Paid Leave and Job-protecting Unpaid Leave in WA State

Being a family caregiver can be financially stressful. In addition to taking on the costs of caring for a close friend or family member, caregiving may make it difficult to work at a full time job. Caregivers may struggle to stay employed and be financially stable. This tip sheet is Part 1 of a series with information to help family caregivers with the financial side of caregiving.

For information on flexible employment, visit How to Afford Family Caregiving, Part 2.

Get paid while taking WA State Family & Medical Leave

This is not the same program as the Federal Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which is a job-protection program and is unpaid leave.

The State of Washington can grant you up to 90 percent of your average weekly wage. The number of weeks you can get paid for depends on whether you are taking medical leave, family leave, or a combination. Visit the Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave website for details about medical leave and family leave.

To see if you are eligible for paid leave, take the “quiz” on the Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave site.

To apply, on the Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave website, click on the small arrow on the “Individuals and Families” tab on the top of the website page. Click on items 1-5, in order to learn about the process, what paperwork you will need, and apply.

Unpaid leave job protection

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal law, protects the rights of employees to take unpaid leave without the threat of job loss for certain situations.

Every year employees are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for:

• A child being born and/or care for child within a year of birth
• A child being adopted or put into foster care in the employee’s care
• Care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent
• Employee’s serious health condition that makes them unable to work
• for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status as a member of the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces.
• Military service personnel are entitled to 26 work weeks of leave within a year to care for a spouse, child, parent or next of kin.

These benefits apply to most employees who have worked at the same employer for a year or more, if

• The company has at least 50 employees
• The employer is a school or part of the local, state, or federal government.
• Use the US Department of Labor’s guidelines to see if you are eligible for FMLA. View or download this fact sheet on the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Important to Know:

• Employers are allowed to require an employee to first use up their time-off benefits (vacation, sick time, etc.) as part of the FMLA time, BUT when paid leave is used for FMLA-covered reasons, the leave (and the employee’s job protections) are protected under FMLA.
• On return from FMLA leave (whether after a block of leave or an instance of intermittent leave), the FMLA requires that the employer return the employee to the same job, or one that is nearly identical (equivalent). See the FMLA Factsheet above for details on what makes a job equivalent.
• An employee does not need to take FMLA leave all at once. The law says leave can be used in several blocks of time (“intermittently”) or used to reduce an employee’s regular hours.
• Using FMLA does not reduce your allowed Washington State Paid Leave benefit, so you can use both types of leave. It’s important to note that Paid Leave and FMLA usually run at the same time, since many Paid Leave events also qualify for FMLA.

For both types of leave:

Employers are allowed to ask for information to support reasons for the leave. Employees can provide this required information in several formats, including letters that are from a healthcare provider written on official letterhead, documents issued by a branch of the military, or on a Certification Form that can be found on the Department of Labor site or the Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave site.