Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave Program
How the Maine PFML program impacts your business and your employees.
Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave Impact
Maine has become the latest state to begin a Paid Family and Medical Leave program.
The Maine PFML program is changing the game, ensuring employees have access to benefits when taking time away from work for certain qualifying events. On this page, discover how PFML will impact both employers AND employees. We will cover:
Maine PFML Resources
Watch Our Previous Webinar: Details of the PFML Program from September 2024
Register for Our Upcoming Webinar: Maine PFML Implementation
On December 17th at 2pm, we will be hosting a webinar to cover the Implementation Steps for Maine’s PFML Program.
Download our Guide to Compliance
This eGuide will provide all of the details you need to know about the program.
Get our Employee Info Sheet
A sheet you can give to your employees so they can learn how this program will impact them.
What is Maine's PFML Program?
Unfortunately, unexpected occurrences can take place for one of your employees. These things can cause employees to miss an extended period of time from work. Maine has implemented a Paid Family Medical Leave Program to provide benefits to those employees who need to take time off from work due to certain qualifying events.
As defined by the law, Paid Family Medical Leave provides employees with paid time away from work due to medical reasons that require a long-term absence. This leave can be taken for family reasons, such as caring for an ill family member or a new child, or medical reasons, such as a personal serious illness or injury.
What employers are impacted?
According to the law, All public and private employers, as well as self-employed individuals are covered by the program. Federal government employers are not covered by the program.
- Employers with more than 15 employees will contribute a portion of the payroll tax to fund the program.
- Employers with 15 or less employees will not have to pay the employer portion of the tax..
- Employers can opt-out of the program if they offer comparable private paid leave to their employees. Employers cannot impose a cost to employees that is greater than the payroll tax under the state plan for these private programs.
What is a covered employee?
According to the law, a covered employee is:
- All public and private full-time and part-time employees, as well as self-employed individuals.
- Must have earned at least six times the state average weekly wage in the first four calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual’s benefit year are covered by this program.
- Has taxable wages in the state of Maine.
What benefits are employees entitled to under PFML?
- Maine’s program will provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year to all eligible employees of private and public employers regardless of employer size.
- During the approved leave period, employees will receive 90% of their wages for income earned that is equal to or less than 50% of Maine’s average weekly wage. Currently, this average weekly wage is $1,103. Any portion of an individual’s weekly wage that is more than 50% of the state’s average weekly wage is replaced at 66% up to the maximum weekly benefit.
- Employers must restore the employee to the same or equivalent position once the employee returns from leave. This same or equivalent position must have equal pay, benefits, and other conditions of employment. The rules apply to eligible employees that have worked at least 120 days prior to taking leave.
What are the implementation dates?
Employers must begin withholding payroll tax to fund this program on January 1st, 2025.
**Employees are eligible to take benefits starting May 1st, 2026.**
How will Maine PFML impact employers?
- Employers must withhold a payroll tax from employees.
All employers must withhold a 0.5% payroll tax from employee wages starting on January 1st, 2025 to fund the PFML program.
- Some employers must contribute a payroll tax to the program.
Employers with more than 15 employees must also contribute a 0.5% payroll tax to help fund the program.
- Employers can opt-out of the program if they offer comparable private paid leave to their employees.
Employers cannot impose a cost to employees that is greater than the payroll tax under the state plan for these private programs.
- Employers must remit contributions.
The employer is responsible for remitting contributions to the PFML Fund.
- Employers must be aware that they must restore the employee to the same or equivalent position once the employee returns from leave.
This same or equivalent position must have equal pay, benefits, and other conditions of employment. The rules apply to eligible employees that have worked at least 120 days prior to taking leave. If the employee has not worked for at least 120 days, they may not be subject to these protections.
- Employers must provide notice to employees.
Employers will also be required to post a labor law poster in the workplace. We will have this poster available for FREE on our website once it is available. Employers must also issue written notice to each employee within 30 days of hire that includes details of this program.
How will Maine PFML impact employees?
- Employees will automatically have a payroll tax deducted.
Employees will automatically have 0.5% of wages deducted through a payroll tax to help fund the PFML program.
- Employees are eligible for leave each benefit year.
Covered employees are eligible to up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year for certain qualifying events.
- Employees can receive up to a certain amount,
During the approved leave period, employees will receive 90% of their wages for income earned that is equal to or less than 50% of Maine’s average weekly wage. Currently, this average weekly wage is $1,103.
Any portion of an individual’s weekly wage that is more than 50% of the state’s average weekly wage is replaced at 66% up to the maximum weekly benefit.
- Eligible employees can use this paid leave for a number of reasons.
At this time, some of these reasons include:
- Bonding with the covered individual’s child during the first 12 months after childbirth or in the first 12 months after the placement or adoption of a child.
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition.
- Attending a qualifying exigency. This is defined as “a need rising out of a covered individual’s family member’s active duty service or impending notice of a call or order to active duty.”
- Caring for a family member of the covered individual who is a covered service member.
- Safe leave, otherwise known as sexual assault victim leave.
- Any other reason set forth in Maine FMLA requirements.
- Leave is not limited to employees’ own conditions or conditions of a direct family member. This means that the plan permits employees to take leave to care for an individual with whom they have “a significant personal bond that is or is like a family relationship regardless of biological or legal relationship.”
- Employees must give notice to employers.
Employees can take the paid leave immediately after starting employment. Employees looking to take paid leave must provide employers with only reasonable notice of their intent to take leave.
Types of Leave
There are 3 types of leave that employees are eligible for under Maine’s PFML Program.
- Continuous Leave
An employee is taking leave that is ongoing for days or weeks at a time.
Example: A new mother is taking 8 weeks off to bond with newborn baby.
- Intermittent Leave
An employee is still working but will need to take time off in increments.
Example: An employee undergoing chemotherapy works in the morning, has chemotherapy treatment in the afternoon, and will need a day to recover.
- Reduced Leave
An employee is still working but is on a reduced schedule working certain number days of the week while on leave for the rest.
Example: Employee normally works Monday-Friday but is now only working Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next 8 weeks to care for a family member with a serious medical condition.
Next Steps for Paper Trails Clients
Now that you know what Maine’s PFML program is all about, and how it will impact employers and employees, let’s take a look at some next steps to compliance.
We ask that you please complete this form by Friday, December 20th.
This form instructs us on how to setup your premium contributions which we will begin to collect on January 1. Even if you have already sent this to your payroll processor, please re-submit it on this form.
According to the PFML rules, "contribution rates are determined by the number of Maine employees you had between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. Within that period, count the number of employees to whom you paid wages each week. This includes any employees who were on payroll for a calendar work week – including full time, part time, seasonal, or per-diem. If there are 15 or more Maine employees paid in 20 or more of the weeks, your contribution premium will be 1.0% of wages and you may withhold up to half of the premium from your employees’ wages. If the threshold is not met, your contribution premium will be 0.5% of wages and you may withhold all or a portion of the contribution from your employees’ wages."
*Paper Trails has reporting to help you identify this employee count – please reach out to your payroll processor to run this report.*
The contribution rules are as follows:
- Standard Settings for 15+ employees: 1.0% total contribution - 0.5% from employees and 0.5% from employers.
- Standard Settings for less than 15 employees: 0.5% total contribution - 0.5% from employees, 0.0% from employers.
If we don’t hear from you, we’ll default to the standard settings to ensure compliance. If you have any questions about how you’d like to set this up, please reach out to your payroll processor.
On January 1st, Paper Trails will begin withholding the payroll contributions based on your selections. If we do not hear from you, we will use the standard calculations to setup your account.
As an employer, you are required to inform employees about this new payroll tax. We’ve created an employee information sheet and other helpful resources at papertrails.com/pfml to make this process easier for you. You must also hang the Maine PFML Labor Law Poster starting on January 1st. You can download that here.
The state portal to register your business for the PFML program will not open until sometime in January according to Maine Department of Labor, even though we will begin collecting premiums on January 1. When the state opens the Paid Leave Portal sometime in January, you will need to register your business and provide Paper Trails with your PFML Account ID number so that we can accurately and timely pay and file with the state. We will notify you and provide further instructions on how to do this when registration opens. To avoid late penalties, the deadline for registering for the portal will be February 28, 2025.
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