Employees who work for a covered employer in Connecticut may be eligible for job protection under Connecticut Paid Family and Medical Leave (CT FMLA) and paid leave benefits Connecticut Paid Leave (CT Paid Leave). CT Paid Leave was enacted in 2019 and went into effect on January 1, 2022 and it allows eligible employees to take paid time off work to care for themselves or family members.
Employees can take up to 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave during a 12 month period for the following reasons:
• The birth of a child and care within the first year after birth;
• The placement of a child with employee for adoption or foster care and care for child within the first year after placement;
• To care for a family member with a serious health condition;
• Because of the employee’s own serious health condition;
• To serve as an organ or bone marrow donor;
• To address qualifying exigencies arising from a spouse, son, daughter, or parent’s active duty service in the armed forces; or
• To care for a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin with a serious injury or illness incurred on active duty in the armed forces.
• Your own serious health condition
• Starting or expanding a family
• Caring for a family member
• Military caregiver leave
• Qualifying exigency leave
• Family violence leave
You can learn more about these qualifying leave reasons on Connecticut’s website here.
Most employees are eligible for CT Paid Leave benefits if they earned at least $2,325 during their highest earning quarter in the past 5 quarters from a CT employer and:
1) Work (or have worked for in the last 12 weeks) for a covered employer OR
2) Are a self-employed CT resident (or a sole proprietor enrolled in the program)
This applies to full-time, part-time, per diem, and seasonal workers as long as they meet the eligibility requirements.
CT Paid Leave provides partial pay to eligible leave-takers. The total weekly benefit amount is calculated based on an employee’s average weekly wage with a cap of 60% of an employee’s average weekly wage up to the maximum amount. The 2024 maximum weekly benefit amount is $941.40. If you’d like to see some examples of how benefit pay breaks down, you can review Connecticut’s website here.
If your employer uses Cocoon, you can log into your Dashboard and we’ll guide you through the process. If not, you can head to CT Paid Leave’s website to determine next steps (like providing written notice to your employer, getting your documents together, and actually submitting your claims forms).
Connecticut Paid Leave, Connecticut Paid Family Medical Leave and beyond—all in one interactive map.
