The Employment Security Department (ESD) is currently working on rules to implement legislation from the 2023 session that change the state’s Paid Family & Medical Leave program.

Last session, the legislature passed a bill that reworked how PFML premiums are calculated in response to the chronic cash flow issues that plagued the program last year. It also passed a bill to make it easier for employers to access needed data on employees’ PFML use so they can manage their own leave programs. Now, ESD is preparing to adopt new rules to fully implement those pieces of legislation.

You can find ESD’s proposed rules here. The proposed rules are straightforward and largely quote or directly reference the new statutory changes. They include:

• An explicit reference to an employee’s employer as an “interested party” who may request information from ESD on an employee’s PFML use.
• A specific reference to the new premium rate calculation formula statute, which will start to be used for the 2024 calendar year.
• Some changes to how public records are addressed and handled, primarily incorporating definitions and records request procedures from a recent change to ESD’s agency-wide public records request administrative rules.

You can participate in the next rulemaking hearing on Oct. 26 at 9 am:

When: October 26, 2023, 9 am
Join online: Click here to join the meeting
Join by phone: 564-999-2000 PIN: 400 151 166#

On Oct. 3, ESD also initiated a new separate rulemaking effort to better explain when and which precedential decisions will be available to the public. ESD also held open the opportunity to expand the rulemaking to additional guidance on other topics as necessary. No draft rules or stakeholder meetings have been scheduled at this time.