Committee considers expanding paid family and medical leave protections to all workers and shortening claim periods

House Bill 1213 would remove employer-size thresholds for employment protection under Washington’s paid family and medical leave program, shorten the minimum claim period from eight hours to four, and require employers to maintain employees’ health care coverage during periods of PFML leave for which the employee is entitled to employment protection.

The bill’s prime sponsor told the committee that nearly half of workers covered by the PFML program currently lack job protection and that a University of Washington study found large disparities in which workers have reinstatement rights. “Seventy percent of high-wage workers have access to job protection, but only 16 percent of low-wage workers do,” the sponsor said, arguing that expanding protection would…