U.S. Updates
California
While the legislative session ended August 31, 2026, Governor Newsom had until the end of September to decide to sign or veto the bills on his desk. Earlier this week, he signed a few bills of interest into law.
SB 1149 amends the state’s current bereavement law to include a designated person, identified by the employee, as a family member for whom they can take bereavement leave. The definition of ‘designated person” means any individual related to the employee by blood or whose association is the equivalent of a family relationship. The employee may identify the designated person when they request leave and the employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for bereavement leave.
This change goes into effect as of January 1, 2027, and the amendment to include the definition of designated persons aligns with other state laws that include a designated person as a family member. For instance, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Paid Sick Leave, and Leave for Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, or Stalking are current laws that include a designated person while the addition to the Paid Family Leave (PFL) program will take effect as of July 1, 2028.
Speaking of PFL, the program was expanded in 2021 to allow employees to claim PFL benefits in order to participate in a qualifying exigency due to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of the employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States. AB 2054 will broaden the definition of “active duty” to include duty during training, deployment in general (not only to a foreign country), and for those who are reserve members of the Armed Forces, a call or order to state active duty.
AB 2054 will go into effect once the Employment Development Department (EDD) has made specific changes to their claims system or on July 1, 2028, whichever is sooner.
Lastly, effective January 1, 2027, AB 2292 prohibits a physician or practitioner from charging a fee to complete a form or certificate for disability benefits for an employee’s own sickness, injury, or pregnancy, or for PFL benefits when the employee is taking leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
Colorado
The Department of Labor and Employment has adopted amendments to the regulations for the Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance (CO FAMLI) program. The amendment sets the 2027 CO FAMLI premium rate at 0.86%, a decrease from 0.88% in 2026. Premiums are typically capped at the Social Security Wage Base, which should be announced later this year. In the meantime, be prepared to account for the reduced premium rates and look out for additional updates to the program’s notices as well.
Connecticut
With the announcement from Governor Lamont of Connecticut’s minimum wage increase in January 2027, we should see an increase to the CT Paid Leave program’s weekly benefit amount as well. The minimum wage will be adjusted to $17.48 per hour beginning January 1, 2027 (previously $16.94 per hour), and the minimum wage is used to calculate an employee’s weekly wage cap when they apply for CT Paid Leave benefits. Since the weekly benefit is capped at 60 times the CT minimum wage, the new maximum weekly benefit amount for 2027 will be $1,048.80 (an increase from $1,016.40 in 2026).
Contributions to the program have yet to be released and will likely be announced later this year. We will keep you informed on whether the contribution rates change for this next year, as they remained the same in 2025 and 2026.
Lastly, we discussed the new accommodation notice requirements in our previous newsletter, and the written notice is now available on the CT Department of Labor website.
District of Columbia
The District of Columbia has announced an emergency measure affecting the Paid Family Leave (DC PFL) program from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2030. The amendment decreases the duration of family and medical leave eligible employees may take, as shown below:
- 10 weeks of Medical leave (decreased from 12)
- 6 weeks of Family leave (decreased from 12)
- 12 weeks of Parental leave (unchanged)
- 2 weeks of Prenatal leave (unchanged)
Once the amendment period concludes, the leave durations will be restored to the previous leave amounts for any claims filed on or after October 1, 2030. Additionally, effective October 1, 2026, the maximum weekly benefit amount will decrease to $1,100 (from $1,190) and shall continue to be adjusted every October 1st of each successive year. Please be sure to update your internal resources and policies accordingly.
Lastly, the updated mandatory employee notice is now available and you can view it here.
Illinois
In our previous newsletter we reported the Illinois Human Rights Act was amended to include an employer’s obligations to provide accommodations for menopause related conditions. The Department of Public Health has now released the workplace poster, which you can find here. Employers will need to inform employees of their rights by posting the poster in the workplace or include it in an employee handbook.
Maryland
We’re happy to share that employer registration for the Maryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance (MD FAMLI) program is officially available. You can begin the registration process here and ensure you’re ready to remit and submit contributions as of January 1, 2027. MD FAMLI also has a registration guide available for employers.
New Jersey
The Department will be increasing New Jersey’s Temporary Disability Insurance (NJ TDI) and Family Leave Insurance (NJ FLI) maximum weekly benefit amount to $1,158 (from $1,119 in 2026) effective January 1, 2027. Employees will be eligible for benefits if they have worked 20 weeks and earned at least $319 weekly with any NJ employer, or have earned a combined total of $16,000 in the base year. This is an increase from the previous year’s requirement of earning $310 weekly or a combined total of $15,500 in the base year.
As for contribution rates, the maximum taxable wage base is up to $177,100 for employees. For new employers, the NJ TDI maximum taxable wage base is $46,400. For all other employers, the state plan contribution ranges from 0.1% to 0.75% of the annual wage cap and specific rates will be released later in the year. We will provide another update once rates are announced.
New York
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has announced updated premium details for the Paid Family Leave (NY PFL) program for the 2027 calendar year.
The updated contribution rate, effective as of January 1, 2027, will increase to 0.452% compared to the premium rate of 0.432% for 2026. The maximum annual contribution cost per employee in 2027 will subsequently increase to $451.81 from $411.91. If you would like further detail on the rate decisions, you can find more within the DFS press release.
As a reminder, the maximum weekly benefit for NY PFL was updated earlier this year.
Canada Updates
Employment Insurance (EI)
There was an update to the maximum insurable earnings (MIE) for EI benefits, which will increase to $70,800 from $68,900 effective January 1, 2027. A table is below to show the maximum amounts of premiums payable to the EI program from employers and employees for 2027.
| Contributor | Premium rate (per $100 of insurable earnings) | Maximum annual contribution 2027 | Difference in maximum annual contribution from 2026 |
| Workers | $1.64 | $1,161.12 | $38.05 |
| Employers | $2.30 | $1,625.57 | $53.27 |
| Workers residing in Quebec | $1.29 | $913.32 | $17.62 |
| Employers in Quebec | $1.81 | $1,278.65 | $24.67 |
As noted in the table, the employee premium rate will be $1.64 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2027 and $2.30 for employers. With the updated MIE and premium rate, insured workers in 2027 will be subject to a maximum annual premium of $1,161.12, an increase from $1,123.07 in 2026.
Residents of Quebec will be subject to a premium rate of $1.29 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2027, up to a maximum annual premium of $913.32 – an increase from $895.70 in 2026. As a reminder, the lower premium for Quebec residents is due to the province’s administration of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP).
Due to the updated MIE, the maximum weekly EI benefit rate for claims that begin in 2027 will increase to $749 from $729 per week. The extended EI benefits plan for parental benefits will also increase to $449 in 2027 from $437 per week.
Additionally, there was an announcement that the 1-week waiting period for Employment Insurance claims will, for the fourth time, be extended. This time around the extension will be for one year, i.e., to October 10, 2027.
Although the waiver of the waiting period was initially scheduled to end as of October 10, 2026, this one year extension is intended to continue to help workers access income support when they need it, mainly in response to the tariffs announced by the United States. As a reminder, some claimants may still serve a waiting period if it is to their advantage due to top-up pay from their employer’s Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) plan.
