On December 6, 2022, Governor Phil Scott announced detail of Vermont’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Plan (VT-FMLI), which will be rolled out in 2023 for state workers before expanding to the private sector in 2024.
The program is voluntary in the private sector and will provide Vermont workers with 60 percent wage replacement for up to six weeks of work in a 12-month period if they take time off for qualified events.
Employees who work for businesses electing to participate in the voluntary program or who obtain coverage individually will be able to utilize the paid leave benefits for qualified events, including:
- The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
- An employee’s adoption of a child or foster care placement, and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
- Caring for the employee’s spouse, child, stepchild, foster child, ward who lives with the employee, parent, or parent of the employee’s spouse who has a serious health condition;
- A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of their job; or
- Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty,” or to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (i.e., “military caregiver leave”).
In 2024, private and non-state public employers with two or more employees will have the ability to select from a number of plan design options that allow them to best support the needs of their employees and their business. Beginning in 2025, individuals who work for Vermont employers that do not offer VT-FMLI, self-employed Vermonters, and employers with one employee can purchase coverage through the VT-FMLI individual purchasing pool, which will be insured by The Hartford. More information can be found by clicking here.
HR Works will continue to monitor this topic and provide additional information on the program as it become available.
