Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (WA PFML)

[daphnehanse11]

Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (WA PFML)

Build a Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave eligibility and maximum benefit calculator. The contribution/premium side already exists in the codebase; this issue covers the worker-facing benefit estimate.

Given a Washington worker's earnings history and a selected leave scenario, the model should return:

• wa_pfml_eligible
• wa_pfml_weekly_benefit_amount
• wa_pfml_max_leave_weeks
• wa_pfml

wa_pfml should represent the maximum annual benefit estimate for the selected leave type, not claimed leave paid out to a household.

Inputs in scope

Core inputs:

• state_code
• weekly_hours_worked
• employment_income
• wa_pfml_leave_type

Supported leave types:

• FAMILY
• MEDICAL
• COMBINED
• MEDICAL_WITH_PREGNANCY_INCAPACITY
• COMBINED_WITH_PREGNANCY_INCAPACITY
• NONE

Optional accuracy overrides:

• wa_pfml_qualifying_period_hours_worked
• wa_pfml_average_weekly_wage_override

Rules to model

Eligibility — RCW 50A.15.010

• Worker must have at least 820 hours in the qualifying period.

Weekly benefit — RCW 50A.15.020(5)-(6)

• If AWW is at or below 50% of SAWW: benefit = 90% of AWW.
• If AWW is above 50% of SAWW: benefit = 90% of the first 50% of SAWW + 50% of AWW above that threshold.
• Minimum weekly benefit = $100, or AWW if AWW is below $100.
• Maximum weekly benefit = 90% of SAWW.
• Average weekly wage and weekly benefit are rounded down to the next lower dollar.

Duration — RCW 50A.15.020(3)

• Family leave: 12 weeks
• Medical leave: 12 weeks
• Combined leave: 16 weeks
• Medical leave with pregnancy incapacity: 14 weeks
• Combined leave with pregnancy incapacity: 18 weeks

Current PolicyEngine approximations

• If wa_pfml_qualifying_period_hours_worked is not provided, eligibility can be approximated from weekly_hours_worked * 52.
• If wa_pfml_average_weekly_wage_override is not provided, AWW can be approximated as floor(employment_income / 52).
• The model should estimate maximum leave and benefit for a selected leave type; it does not need to infer whether a factual life event qualifies as family or medical leave.

Key sources

• RCW 50A.15.020 — Benefit amount and duration
• RCW 50A.15.010 — Employee eligibility
• RCW 50A.05.010 — Definitions
• Washington Paid Leave 2026 Paycheck Insert