District workers who need time off from their jobs to care for a seriously ill family member have lost half of their paid family leave, a reduction that advocates fought for months as city leaders wrestled with a billion-dollar budget shortfall.
Beginning Oct. 1, the maximum family caregiving benefit drops from 12 to six weeks. Medical leave for workers with serious health conditions falls from 12 to 10 weeks, and the maximum weekly benefit declines from $1,190 to $1,100. Parental leave remains at 12 weeks, and prenatal leave at two weeks.
“My colleagues and I had a moral obligation to act to reverse the devastating cuts to child care worker subsidies, paid family leave, and the social net in our budget,” Council member Janeese Lewis George said after the council approved the fiscal 2027 spending plan.
The final reductions are less severe than the ones Mayor Muriel Bowser originally proposed.
Bowser’s budget would have eliminated new family caregiving and medical leave benefits entirely in fiscal 2027. Her plan called for family leave to return later, at six weeks, and medical leave at eight weeks, while reducing the maximum weekly benefit to $1,000.
The Council restored medical and family caregiving leave for the new fiscal year but did not maintain the previous benefit levels. Instead, workers receive six weeks of family caregiving leave and 10 weeks of medical leave.
“I think we did damn good,” Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said in June as lawmakers found roughly $450 million to restore programs facing elimination or steep reductions in Bowser’s proposal. The money funded programs including paid family leave, childcare subsidies, and housing assistance.
Paid-leave advocates welcomed the restoration but said workers would still pay a steep price.
The Campaign for D.C. Paid Family Leave said the District was poised to become “the only jurisdiction to reduce paid family and medical leave benefits after they have been implemented.” The coalition also objected to diverting funds from the employer payroll tax that supports paid leave to other District spending.
The organization said Department of Employment Services data showed that 53% of workers taking family caregiving and medical leave were Black, compared with less than 25% who were white. It also said that family and medical leave claimants tend to have lower incomes than workers using parental leave.
Employers will continue paying the same 0.75% payroll tax that funds the program. The Campaign for D.C. Paid Family Leave said the budget reduces the share of that tax allocated to paid leave from 0.25% to 0.11%, with much of the remaining revenue available for other District priorities.
For workers who previously qualified for 12 weeks of leave to care for a spouse, parent, child, or another eligible relative with a serious illness, the new limit is six weeks. The District’s wage-replacement formula remains unchanged and can replace up to 90% of wages for some workers. Employers continue to finance paid leave, with no payroll deductions from employees.
For claims filed from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2030, family leave is limited to six weeks and medical leave to 10 weeks. Beginning Oct. 1, 2030, both will return to 12 weeks. The $1,100 maximum weekly benefit can increase annually with inflation if the District’s chief financial officer certifies that the Universal Paid Leave Fund has sufficient funds.
Paid leave is not the only change D.C. residents will see starting Oct. 1.
Renters with pets gained new protections that prohibit landlords from restricting common household pets solely because of breed, size, or weight. The law also limits what landlords can charge tenants for keeping pets and requires at least one low-barrier homeless shelter to accommodate residents who have household pets.
Maryland and Virginia also enacted new laws Thursday. Maryland prohibits grocery stores and third-party delivery services from using consumers’ personal data to set individualized grocery prices, restricts when law enforcement officers may conceal their faces, and limits the use of rap lyrics and other creative expression as evidence in criminal proceedings. Virginia’s Clean Slate provisions allow certain misdemeanor and marijuana possession records to be automatically sealed.
For District workers facing cancer treatment, surgery, or months of caring for a seriously ill relative, however, Oct. 1 changes a benefit they already had.
The Campaign for D.C. Paid Family Leave said that workers who need the full benefit are not simply taking extra time off from their jobs. Throughout the budget fight, its argument was that workers who qualify for extended leave often face the most serious circumstances.
“Through their actions, D.C. workers will still be able to access some time to care for themselves or their family members in the case of a serious medical issue,” the coalition said in a statement about council members who fought the original proposal. However, the group noted the final budget still leaves “big gaps.”
