HB5 - Family Leave Insurance Program

• Establishes a family leave insurance program administered by the Department of Labor and Industrial relations, providing up to 16 weeks of paid family leave per calendar year to eligible employees.

• Extends family leave eligibility to all employees of businesses with one or more employees (reduced from 100+ employees), including unemployed individuals who were employed within the last 26 weeks.

• Provides weekly benefits calculated as 90% of average weekly wage for lower-income workers, 75% for middle-income workers, and 50% for higher-income workers, with a maximum weekly benefit of $1,000.

• Creates the family leave insurance fund financed through employer and employee contributions based on temporary disability insurance rates; self-employed individuals may opt-in to coverage for a minimum three-year period.

• Appropriates $300,000 for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 to hire an administrator, assistant, and accountant; effective July 1, 2021.