Paid leave and disability insurance

Find your state’s paid leave or disability program, what the FMLA gives you, and add a new child to your benefits in Every

Several states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have programs that pay part of your wages while you take family or medical leave, or while an illness or injury that isn’t from work keeps you from working. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also gives eligible employees unpaid, job-protected leave.

This page explains general rules, not legal or tax advice for you. Rules change, and they depend on the state you work in. For your own situation, check with your state’s labor agency, a lawyer or a tax advisor.

State programs

Each row links the program’s own page.

Maryland’s benefits become available January 1, 2028, and Virginia’s December 1, 2028.

New Hampshire and Vermont also have paid family and medical leave insurance, but it’s voluntary:

• In New Hampshire, employers aren’t required to provide NH Paid Family and Medical Leave. If your employer doesn’t provide it or equivalent benefits, it’s available to you as an individual plan.
• In Vermont, employers can opt in to the Vermont Family and Medical Leave Insurance Plan.

How you claim depends on the program. For example:

• In California, you file for Disability Insurance or Paid Family Leave, and manage your claim, in your SDI Online account.
• In Rhode Island, you apply for Temporary Caregiver Insurance within 30 days of starting your leave.

In Hawaii, the Temporary Disability Insurance law requires employers to provide wage replacement coverage. In New York, virtually all employers must provide disability and Paid Family Leave benefits coverage for their employees.

Leave under the FMLA

The FMLA gives eligible employees unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons, such as the birth or adoption of a child, caring for a child, spouse or parent with a serious health condition, or your own serious health condition. During it, your employer keeps up your group health benefits on the same terms. The Department of Labor’s FMLA page has the details.

• You’re eligible when you’ve worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, with at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before your leave, at a location where it has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
• You can take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period.
• You don’t have to ask for FMLA leave by name, but you tell your employer enough for them to know your leave may qualify.
• When you can foresee the leave, such as an expected birth, an adoption or planned treatment, you give your employer at least 30 days’ notice. When you can’t, you give notice as soon as practicable.
• After the leave, you go back to the same job, or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits and terms.
• Leave that qualifies under both the FMLA and your state’s law counts against both.

In Every

Every turns on time off, leave of absence and the option to confirm a life event without a document company by company. If you don’t see them, email [e-mail] to ask about them.

Check your time off

Your time off policies are on My profile → Time off. Under Time off balances, select the arrow beside a policy: Compensation says whether it’s Paid time off or Unpaid time off. To ask for time off, under Time off requests, select Request (see Request time off).

Your paystub during a leave

When your company records a leave of absence for you in Every, your paystub for each regular payroll during it says your pay was adjusted for the leave. It also says that a state benefit, such as SDI or PFL, is paid directly by the state and isn’t on the paystub. If your company entered the weekly amount from your state claim letter, the paystub lists it as paid by the state program. Your paystubs are on My profile → Docs (see Paystubs and tax forms).

Add a new child to your benefits

A birth or adoption is a qualifying life event, so you can change your benefits outside open enrollment.

1. Start the change

   On My profile → Benefits, under Qualified life event, select Submit change.

2. Choose the event

   In Select a Qualifying Life Event, select Newborn child or Adopted child.

3. Enter the date

   Enter your child’s birthdate or adoption date. The form takes a date up to 30 days back, and an adoption date up to 1 month ahead.

4. Add the document

   In QLE Document, upload the birth certificate, or the adoption certificate or paperwork. If the form offers a confirmation that you don’t have a document right now, you can select it instead.

5. Choose who approves it

   In Select Approver, select the person who reviews your request.

6. Finish the coverage steps

   Complete the coverage steps the form shows.

For a birth or adoption, the Projected coverage effective date is the date of the birth or adoption, and coverage starts on that date once your request is approved. A date outside the window shows “Unfortunately you are outside the allowed window to update benefits.” For the rest of the steps, see Benefits.