Maine & Delaware's New State-Mandated Paid Family Leave

Maine and Delaware have become the two most recent U.S. states to mandate paid family leave. Here is what employers in those states need to know to stay compliant with the new law. 

Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave

Certain requirements for Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program begin in January 2025. The law applies to any employer who has at least one (1) Maine employee. Here’s what employers need to know and actions to take in advance:

Count your employees

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. 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.

Prepare to withhold contributions

You may withhold up to 0.5% of your employees’ wages beginning with the first pay date in January 2025. We will ensure your payroll system is ready to begin withholding at that time. Be sure to inform your employees in advance that this will begin. The Department of Labor has a poster that you can use to provide the information to your employees which can be found on Maine.gov/paidleave under employer resources . Contributions and wage reports for the January to March 2025 quarter will be due after the end of the quarter and no later than April 30, 2025. These will be submitted through the Paid Leave Portal.

Register in the Paid Leave Portal

Starting January 1st, all employers are required to register in the Paid Leave Portal. If you have a payroll provider, you can designate them during the registration process. You will also need to identify whether you have 15 or more employees as described above. We will assist you with this process the best we can, and the expectation is the portal should be opening in the next few months. In the event we can get you registered on our own, we will, however we may need assistance in the matter.

Stay informed

Stay up to date on the latest information at Maine.gov/paidleave. The link to the employee poster you can share with employees can be found here under 'Employer resources.'  In addition there are other helpful resources such as FAQ's.  

Delaware Paid Family Leave

Delaware’s paid family and medical leave program (Paid Leave) applies to employers with ten (10) or more employees in the state.

The key implementation dates are as follows:
By December 1, 2024: Employers need to set up an account with Delaware LaborFirst.

By December 2, 2024: Employers must provide employees with a Notice of Employee Rights. After December 2, new employees should receive a notice upon hire. This can be provided electronically.

January 1, 2025: Employers that are sharing the cost of the program with their employees must begin payroll deductions.

April 30, 2025: The first wage and hour report, as well as the first contribution payment, is due to the state.

January 1, 2026: Paid Leave benefits, which will provide job protection, will become available to employees.

More Information

The Delaware Department of Labor has created a website with the Notice of Employee Rights, FAQs, an overview of the program, and other resources for employers.

We’ll provide more details on both of these Paid Leave programs, closer to 2026