Maryland revises paid family and medical leave 

May 3, 2024

Enacted on April 9, 2022 (MD Code Lab. & Empl. §§ 8.3-101 et seq.) and most recently amended on April 25, 2024 (2024 Chs. 266 and 267, SB 485 and HB 571), Maryland’s Time to Care Act (TTCA) establishes a paid family and medical leave (PFML) insurance program. Contributions — which cannot exceed 1.2% of wages — are set to begin July 1, 2025. Starting July 1, 2026, covered employees may take up to 12 weeks of leave in a rolling 12-month period, with another 12 weeks possible for employees who experience a serious health condition and need to bond with a new child. The program will replace up to 90% of average weekly wages (subject to an initial $50 minimum and $1,000 maximum, adjusted annually thereafter). Covered employers must participate in the state program or comply with an approved private plan (insured, self-insured, or a combination). TTCA leave is in addition to the state’s existing sick and safe leave under the Healthy Working Families Act, effective since 2018. For more details, see Roundup: State accrued paid leave mandates (Oct. 25, 2023).

Download the 8-page PDF for all details on the law as currently amended. As a historical note, TTCA start dates were originally Oct. 1, 2024, for contributions and Jan. 1, 2025, for benefits; then extended to Oct. 1, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2026, respectively, by a 2023 law (2023 Chs. 258 and 259, HB 988 and SB 828).

• 2024 Ch. 266, SB 485 (MD Legislature, April 25, 2024)
• 024 Ch. 267, HB 571 (MD Legislature, April 25, 2024)
• Paid family and medical leave in the United States (Congressional Research Service, Sept. 25, 2023)
• 2023 Ch. 258, HB 988 (MD Legislature, May 3, 2023)
• 2023 Ch. 259, SB 828 (MD Legislature, May 3, 2023)
• Paid family and medical leave in the United States (Congressional Research Service, Feb. 28, 2023)
• 2022 Ch. 48, SB 275, the Time to Care Act (MD Legislature, April 9, 2022)

• 2023 state paid family and medical leave contributions and benefits (Jan. 31, 2023)
• Roundup: State accrued paid leave mandates (Oct. 25, 2023)
• Roundup of selected state health developments, first-quarter 2022 (May 31, 2022)

• Life, absence & disability management