Specify Employee Tax Percentage for Washington Paid Family Leave

The Washington state paid family leave program provides up to 12 weeks of protected leave in a 12-month period for eligible employees. By default, the employee pays up to 63% of the premium cost (EPFL & EMLI combined) and the employer pays the remaining 37% (MLIR).

You have the option to specify the percentage rate responsible by employees and employers for Washington Paid Family Leave employee taxes and medical premiums in Dayforce for medical leave and paid family leave (regular and voluntary) tax authorities. For example, you can pay more than the 37%, such as a 50/50 amount, to override the contribution amount by the employee or employer that doesn’t allow selecting an option below 37%.

You can specify the unemployment insurance tax rate based on the employer's experience rating that was assigned by the state agency (that is, other than the standard rate) in the Experience Rate field in the Tax Setting section. By doing so, you override the default contribution rate that is used in the system and apply the specified rate to all employees for its tax authority. When specifying the unemployment tax rate in the Experience Rate field, enter the percentage rate in a decimal format. For example, if the tax unemployment rate is 3.25%, enter 0.0325. See Tax Settings and Tax Qualifiers for Tax Authorities.

To specify percentage rate for Washington paid family leave employee taxes:

1. Go to Org Setup > Org Payroll Setup > Legal Entity and select a US legal entity.
2. Click the Tax Authorities tab and select the Washington tax authority from the list displayed. For example, Washington - Paid Family Leave Voluntary - Employer.
3. Click New in the Tax Setting section, to the right of the list of tax authorities.
4. Enter the date that the unemployment insurance leave starts in the Effective Start field.
5. (Optional) Enter the date that the unemployment insurance leave expires in the Effective End field.
6. Enter the unemployment insurance tax rate that was assigned to you by the state agency in the Experience Rate field in a decimal format.
7. Click Save.