Connecticut: A Leader on Paid Family and Medical Leave

August 1, 2023
Did you know residents in every city and town in the state have applied for CT Paid Leave? Approximately 66,000 workers in Connecticut have received over $375 million in benefits when they were unable to work due to a qualifying health or family reasons.

In 2019, the legislature passed, and the Governor signed PA 19-25 into law, creating CT Paid Leave. January 1, 2021, employee payroll contributions began. One year later, on January 1, 2022, benefit payments began for qualified applicants.

My colleagues and I worked hard to ensure its passage in 2019. Families in Connecticut shouldn't have to worry about whether they can balance taking care of family needs or paying the bills. With this program, both can happen, as it offers partial income replacement benefits.

What qualifies for eligible leave?

  • Parental bonding - the birth of an employee's child or placement of an adopted or foster child with the employee
  • Serious health conditions - for the employee or a family member of the employee
  • Donors - to serve as an organ or bone marrow donor
  • Armed Forces - for family members in the armed forces undergoing treatment for an injury or illness incurred in the line of duty or being deployed to a foreign country
  • Family violence - for family violence victims to seek medical care or counseling, obtain services from a victim services organization, relocate because of family violence, or participate in civil or criminal proceedings related to the family

Connecticut is one of 13 states in the nation to pass paid family and medical leave legislation, along with California, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as Washington D.C. States including New Hampshire and Vermont have enacted voluntary programs for employers who want to opt in.

Connecticut should be proud of its paid leave program. It is held up as a national model for other states to emulate. 
Learn More About CT Paid Leave
As a living organ transplant donor, I wished that I could have had the opportunity to access paid family and medical leave in 2015 when I donated one of my kidneys but am so proud to have championed this national model as your legislator in 2019 for others who are considering becoming a living organ donor to save someone’s life and can now afford to recover before returning to work. Paid family and medical leave should be accessible for every worker, not just across Connecticut, because we all never know when we will need it. Looking at you, Congress!