Action on Proposed Amendments to DC Paid Leave Law On Hold Until Fall

Action on proposed amendments to DC’s paid leave law, once planned for this summer, is now on hold until the fall while the District Council is in recess.

As it stands, the law, adopted in December 2016, would require DC employers to provide eight weeks of paid family leave, six weeks to care for a sick family member, and two weeks of personal medical leave. The current funding mechanism is a 0.62 percent payroll tax to be paid entirely by employers beginning in 2019 setting up a system similar to how unemployment insurance is funded. Employees would begin seeing the benefits in 2020.

There are five pending amendments to the bill that would tweak the funding and operational mechanisms of the law.

These include a proposal by Councilmember Mary Cheh to split some of the financial burden of the 0.62 percent tax between employers and employees covered by the law by instituting a fee to be paid by all workers covered by the law, including those who work in DC but live in neighboring jurisdictions. Councilmember Jack Evans proposed an amendment that eliminates the tax altogether and requires employers to shoulder the burden of providing paid leave to their employees.

For more information, check out “Potential changes to D.C.’s paid leave law will likely wait” and “Council members seek pro-business changes to D.C.’s generous paid leave law” in the Washington Business Journal.