University of Washington Human Resources

The federal Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an unpaid leave entitlement that provides job and health insurance protection when eligible employees take a leave of absence for a qualifying reason. For more information, visit the FMLA webpage. The Washington State Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) program is a state of Washington program that provides partial wage replacement in the form of a weekly benefit paid by ESD while claiming this benefit. For employees who have worked for the state of Washington for at least 12 months and 1250 hours, including employment at the UW, PFML leave will be job and health benefit protected.

The University determines when to designate a leave as FMLA covered. Employees choose whether and when to file a PFML claim. PFML does not replace FMLA. In many cases PFML and FMLA will run at the same time.

 

While PFML is not an accrued type of UW time off, if eligible, it provides partial wage replacement in the form of a weekly benefit paid by ESD while claiming this benefit and may provide job protection for your time away and maintenance of the employer portion of your health insurance.

No. The UW has designated certain earned paid time off such as vacation and sick time off as a “supplemental benefit,” so you do not need to be in unpaid status to receive the PFML benefit from ESD.

Yes, you may file a claim to receive PFML partial wage replacement for periods when you are not working at the UW and/or have been terminated.

Yes. The minimum claim is eight (8) consecutive hours.

Yes. ESD and the UW cannot share medical documentation. Filing a claim for paid leave benefits with ESD is a separate process from taking a leave of absence from the University. Whenever possible, employees should begin a leave of absence by following the appropriate UW process, including submitting medical documentation (e.g., a FMLA Health Care Provider Statement). ESD may accept medical documentation you have already provided to UW as support for your PFML claim.

No. For each week you are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, you are disqualified from receiving PFML benefits.

Yes. PFML allows employees to take intermittent leave for baby bonding.

Time offs must be entered for each work day of a leave of absence. Visit How to file for PFML webpage for more information about time off choices including supplemental benefits.

PFML leave requests can be filed with ESD retroactively for “good cause” as outlined in WAC 192-610-040. Generally speaking, employees should give notice at least 30 days in advance and file PFML leave of absence requests in advance of the leave.

As always, first follow the established leave request or extension processes. Next, contact ESD to file (or reopen) a weekly claim for PFML benefits.

For medical leaves of absence or reasons related to a military exigency, there is a waiting period of up to seven days prior to receiving partial wage replacement from ESD; there is no waiting period for parental leaves of absence. Your “waiting week” is the first week you are approved to file a weekly claim. Claim weeks always end on Saturday night. If the qualifying event occurred mid-week, the “waiting week” may be less than a week. During the waiting week, you may use paid time off, including vacation or sick days. If the first week of your paid family or medical leave happens before you receive your approval letter and are able to begin filing weekly claims, that first week still counts as your waiting week.

Example: Your medical leave start date is January 13 and you receive your ESD approval letter on January 22. Once you are approved and can file weekly claims, the first week of your approved leave is your waiting week, so the first week you can claim is the week of January 19.

The UBI for the University of Washington is 178019988.

More than one UBI # is associated with the UW. The correct UBI to use for filing a PFML claim is 178019988.

UW should receive a paper copy of the same approval notice you receive from ESD through regular mail. On occasion, UW has not received the employer copy.  If your claim has been approved, and you would like to help us expedite the approval in Workday, you can email screenshots or a copy of the approval you received from ESD to your leave specialist. An acceptable approval includes employee name, approved dates, claim type (Family or Medical), Claim ID #, and Claim Status (Approved).

Sample email notice for a general leave of absence:

SUBJECT: PFML leave of absence notice [YOUR NAME]
Dear [MANAGER],
This is to notify you that I plan to take (TYPE OF LEAVE: MEDICAL LEAVE/ FAMILY LEAVE/ COMBINATION OF BOTH) starting (DATE).
I expect to be gone for (NUMBER OF DAYS/WEEKS) and hope to return (DATE).

Sample email notice for an intermittent leave of absence:

SUBJECT: PFML intermittent leave of absence notice [YOUR NAME]
Dear [MANAGER],
This is to notify you that I plan to take MEDICAL LEAVE/ FAMILY LEAVE intermittently starting ____(DATE)____.
I expect to be gone __ (NUMBER OF DAYS PER WEEK/MONTH and/or HOURS PER DAY and/or DAYS OF THE WEEK (“2 days a week for 8 hours a day” or “every other Thursday”).

While anyone receiving hourly or salary pay may be eligible for PFML, individuals receiving pay that is not considered “wages” or are in appointments that are not paid are ineligible for PFML. These include, but are not limited to, fee-based appointments, stipend recipients, unpaid academics, contingent workers, and agency temps.

ESD will determine how much you will receive. Payments are based on a percentage of your typical weekly earnings, up to $1,427 a week in 2023. You can estimate your amount using ESD’s payment calculator.

ESD has not received guidance from the Internal Revenue Service about whether PFML benefit payments will be taxed by the federal government. Absent guidance, ESD issued Form 1099-G to people who received PFML benefit payments in 2020 so that individuals have the information they might need to file their taxes. More information can be found on ESD’s FAQ page and in this ESD fact-sheet sent along with the 1099-G form.

According to ESD, the IRS has not provided a definitive answer about whether the IRS will consider PFML benefits “taxable income.” Absent specific guidance from the IRS, ESD recommends that you consult with a tax professional for advice.

Typical holiday pay rules apply during a PFML leave of absence.

Corrections can only be done once the leave of absence for PFML has already been entered (not just approved). The best way to correct a time off entry is to change the Type (see green box below) from a regular time off type to a “PFML” time off type.

Deleting the row or updating the quantity to zero and then entering a new time off transaction (orange boxes) is not recommended. Doing so requires that the deleted entries be approved and may result in errors if individuals do not have large enough time off balances to accommodate all “in process” time off request transactions.

You will be asked:

• If you have filed a workers’ compensation or unemployment insurance claim
• Hours worked during the period
• Hours you were (or will be) paid for time off that are not considered a supplemental benefit payment (UW employees don’t report if any sick, vacation or other accrued UW time off you are using for this time period.)
• If you have missed at least 8 consecutive hours of work during the week
• If you have experienced a change that could impact the duration of your leave

If you qualify for PFML and meet the job protected qualifying conditions of 1250 hours worked in the previous 12 months prior to the leave, you do not need to intersperse 8 hours of time off per month because the employer portion of your healthcare benefits will be maintained; you will still be responsible for the employee portion.

No. Only employees whose work is performed in the state of Washington participate in the program.

PFML does not affect time off accrual rules.

PFML does not affect the employee’s seniority or progression start date.

While you can file for PFML even if you have separated from the UW, you are not allowed to receive unemployment benefits at the same time as PFML benefits.

No. The employee is receiving payment from ESD, not from their employer. Therefore, it is not reportable to the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS). An employee has the opportunity to purchase back any lost credit from DRS by requesting a bill for the Authorized Leave of Absence credit. This is similar to what occurs when an employee is receiving workers’ compensation benefits from Labor & Industries.

If you qualify for PFML and meet the job protected qualifying conditions of 1,250 hours worked in the previous 12 months prior to the leave of absence, you do not need to maintain a 0.05 FTE because the employer portion of your healthcare benefits will be maintained; you will still be responsible for the employee portion.