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WordierThanThou t1_jdm9tko wrote

Reply to comment by LostInTheWildPlace in Can You Opt Out of The Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave PFML? by ukranianvodkafactory

“That means you don’t get paid leave down the road if you need it though”

Honest question, are they charging you for the benefit of paid leave now? I get paid leave through my employer without an extra tax just through my sick days. If I happen to exhaust those, I get 40 extra sick days through their sick leave bank (I’m a member at a cost of 1 sick day a year). If I exhaust those, my private short term leave insurance kicks in which is much, much cheaper than the tax they are imposing for this benefit.

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LostInTheWildPlace t1_jdoa2pl wrote

>are they charging you for the benefit of paid leave now?

I couldn't find anything that said when payments started, so I looked at my paystub and, yes, at least I'm being charged now. A quick look at the math shows me getting hit for 0.58% of my check, so for a $1000 check, I'd get charged $5.80.

>If I exhaust those, my private short term leave insurance kicks in which is much, much cheaper than the tax they are imposing for this benefit.

While I was digging for the payment info, I came across info on Voluntary Plans. Quick version is that an employer has to provide something equivalent to PFML. If they want to opt out of the government plan, they have to submit their own equivalent plan and have that approved. If it doesn't do the same job as PFML, it, at least should, be denied. At the end of the day, this comes down to having your employer look in to it. Now, as per my grandmother raping comment, I don't trust a business to lift one finger that it doesn't have to, regardless of how much it would save their workers. But I've been wrong before. Maybe ask your payroll, HR department, or union shop steward if there are any plans to opt out of the plan. If they won't... well look at it like this. It's not terribly expensive, and you're covered a bit more if absolutely everything goes down the toilet.

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