Paid family leave law delayed.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS

The economic downturn has caused the Washington Legislature to delay implementing a bill passed in 2007 that would have offered up to five weeks of benefits per year for parents to stay at home with a new child.

Funding was to be worked out by a legislative committee before the effective date of Oct. 1, 2009. However, because of current state budget concerns, a bill was passed last year to delay the paid leave law until Oct. 1, 2012.

Congress passed the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, which provides most employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year. The leave can be used for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a seriously ill immediate family member or for an employee's own serious medical illness.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have since passed their own versions of family leave, in most cases expanding eligibility to include caring for a seriously ill extended family member, such as a step-child, in-law or sibling. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia enacted family leave laws, similar to the federal law, and all were unpaid leave laws when originally enacted.

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