Maryland Employers’ FAMLI Contributions Begin Jan. 2027

Takeaways

• Maryland’s Department of Labor published its final regulations implementing the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance law.
• Payroll deductions and employer contributions begin on 01.01.27, with benefits becoming available beginning 01.03.28. 
• Employers, including governmental entities, should prepare for FAMLI payroll, notice, claims-administration and leave-coordination obligations.

Related links

• Final Regulations
• FAMLI Division Website
• Regulation FAQs 
• New Dates Announced for Maryland’s Delayed FAMLI Program

Article

Maryland’s Department of Labor (MDOL) published its final regulations of the state’s paid family and medical leave insurance (FAMLI) law. The regulations establish how the FAMLI program will operate, with payroll contributions beginning Jan. 1, 2027, and benefits to be payable starting January 2028.

FAMLI will provide eligible employees with paid, job-protected leave for certain qualifying family and medical reasons, with up to $1,000 per week in wage replacement.

FAMLI Eligibility, Qualifying Reasons for Leave

Employees may be eligible for FAMLI benefits if they:

• Perform covered employment in Maryland; and 
• Have worked at least 680 hours in covered employment during the applicable base period for any employer.

Eligible full-time employees and part-time, seasonal, temporary, and other nontraditional employees may qualify for FAMLI benefits if they satisfy the statutory requirements.

FAMLI generally provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of leave and benefits in an application year. The regulations clarify that a covered employee may receive up to an additional 12 weeks of leave and benefits in the same application year if the employee becomes eligible for both medical leave for the employee’s own serious health condition and bonding leave following the birth or placement of a child through adoption, foster care, or kinship care.

FAMLI benefits may be available for the following qualifying reasons:

(i) to care for a newborn child of the covered individual during the first year after the child’s birth; or because a child is being placed for adoption, foster care, or kinship care with the covered individual or to care for or bond with the child during the first year after the placement;

(ii) to care for a family member with a serious health condition;

(iii) to attend to a serious health condition that results in the covered individual being unable to perform the functions of the covered individual’s position;

(iv) to care for a service member with a serious health condition resulting from service in the uniformed services for whom the covered individual is next of kin; or

(v) to attend to a qualifying exigency arising out of the deployment of an eligible service member who is a family member of the covered individual.

Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. § 8.3-701(a)(1).

Contributions, Payroll Deductions

Payroll deductions and employer contributions are scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2027. Benefits are scheduled to become available no later than Jan. 3, 2028.

For 2027:

• The total contribution rate will be 0.90% of covered wages up to the Social Security wage base. 
• Employers with at least 15 employees may withhold up to half of the total contribution rate from employee pay and are responsible for the employer portion of the contribution. 
• Employers with fewer than 15 employees are not required to pay the employer portion, but they must remit the employee portion of contributions if withheld from employee wages.

Private plans are free to set their own rates of withholding; however, the amount withheld from employees cannot be more than the contribution rate under the state plan. Employers enrolled in the state plan will be charged the same amount regardless of their employees’ use of the plan, but private plans may be structured differently.

In fall 2026:

• Employers will be able to register online with the FAMLI Division. 
• Employers who choose to enroll in a private plan may submit a Declaration of Intent (DOI) to the FAMLI Division by Nov. 15, 2026. DOI submissions will open on Sept. 1, 2026. The FAMLI division will begin accepting applications for employers who intend to enroll in a private plan once providers make the plans available for purchase in 2027.

Employer Notice Requirements

The final regulations also address employer notice obligations. Because contribution withholding is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2027, employers that intend to withhold employee contributions from pay generally should provide written notice of the contribution requirement to employees in December 2026, at least one pay period before withholding begins.

Employers also should begin preparing for the program’s employee leave-and-benefits notice requirements. Because FAMLI benefits are scheduled to become available on Jan. 3, 2028, employers must provide employees with notice of FAMLI leave and benefits no later than July 3, 2027. This notice should alert employees to the availability of FAMLI benefits, the types of leave that may qualify, employee rights and responsibilities under the program, and the employer’s procedures for handling FAMLI-related leave requests.

Once leave and benefits begin in January 2028, employers also must provide notice:

• At the time of hire;
• Annually;
• At least 30 days before any changes to the employer’s FAMLI procedures or plan; and 
• When the employer knows that an employee’s leave or leave request may be FAMLI-qualifying.

Claims; Documentation

Employees must apply for FAMLI benefits through the applicable plan, which may be the state plan administered by MDOL or an employer’s approved equivalent private insurance plan. An approved equivalent private insurance plan must cover all employees performing qualified employment and must provide rights, protections, and benefits that meet or exceed those available under the state plan.

Employees must submit required documentation supporting the qualifying reason for leave. Employers should be prepared to respond within five business days after receiving notice from MDOL or an equivalent private insurance plan that an employee has submitted a claim application.

If the need for FAMLI leave is foreseeable, employees must provide 30 days’ notice to the employer; if the need for leave is unforeseeable, employees must provide notice as soon as practicable.

For intermittent leave, employees must make a reasonable effort to schedule leave in a manner that does not cause significant difficulty or expense for the employer and must provide reasonable and practicable prior notice of the reason, dates, and duration of the intermittent leave.

Employers may not require employees to use other types of employer-provided paid time off, such as vacation time or sick leave, before using FAMLI leave. Employers may, however, require employees to use their balance of unpaid leave at the same time as FAMLI leave. For example, if an employee’s leave qualifies under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and FAMLI, employers may count the leave against the balance of both available leave banks concurrently.

Similarly, if an employee qualifies for Alternative Family Purpose Leave (AFPL), such as parental bonding leave, an employer may require the employee to use that leave to run concurrently with FAMLI leave, so long as the leave is:

1. Designed to fulfill a FAMLI purpose; 
2. Paid; 
3. Not accrued; 
4. Not subject to repayment if the employee leaves; 
5. Not available for general purposes; and 
6. Available without requiring the exhaustion of another form of leave.

Employers must provide advanced notice if they intend to require parental-leave benefit to run alongside FAMLI leave. If an employee receives wage replacement from both FAMLI and AFPL, they may not receive more than 100% of their average weekly wage, with the FAMLI benefit as primary and the AFPL covering the resulting gap.

Significantly, not all FAMLI-qualifying leave will qualify for federal FMLA leave. For example, if an employee does not meet FMLA’s 1,250 hours worked in the preceding year requirement but does meet FAMLI’s 680 hours worked requirement to qualify for benefits when taking leave, leave would count only against their FAMLI leave balance. If the employee later meets the FMLA hours worked requirement, they will then still have their full bank of unpaid FMLA leave to use if an FMLA-qualifying event occurs.

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Jackson Lewis attorneys will host a complimentary webinar to provide a deeper dive on compliance with Maryland’s FAMLI program. If you have questions about FAMLI or other workplace requirements, please contact a Jackson Lewis attorney.