Paid leave was not part of Tom Warner and Kathleen Kelley’s calculations when they found out in January they were having a baby.
The married couple was sure that at least one of them would have to take unpaid time off after her September due date.
They worried it would be harder to cover regular expenses like food, mortgage payments for their Portland home and car insurance.
They did the math believing they would have to take unpaid leave and hoped “to get through this without taking any kind of substantial financial hit,” said Warner, 36. “But obviously, there’s always the possibility that there could be some kind of unanticipated medical expense. There are just so many unexpected things that can happen.”
Then they heard about Maine’s new paid family leave program that not only anticipates interruptions to work, but pays for them.
Starting May 1, the Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave program will allow any employee in Maine to take up to 12 weeks off work for family or medical events such as childbirth, infant care, injury, illness or family caregiving duties — all while receiving partial wage replacement. Employers and employees each split 0.5% of a 1% payroll tax on employees’ wages to finance the fund.
For the first time, thousands of Mainers can take time off from work during life events and return to their jobs, while still getting paid a part of their wages. Over 2,000 Maine residents have already pre-applied for benefits, according to the Maine Department of Labor.
“It makes us worry a little bit less about: How are we going to make ends meet?” said Kelley, 34.
While critics — including state Republican lawmakers — contend the mandatory program isn’t fair to employers and co-workers left to plug the gaps, advocates say making paid time off accessible to workers actually keeps them in the workplace longer.
“Right now, workers are having babies anyway,” said Destie Hohman Sprague, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby. “Workers are getting sick anyway. They’re having to care for their aging or ill family members anyway. That’s already happening, but most workers in Maine aren’t getting the financial security of being able to tend to those needs.”
Filling a gap
More than 2,000 people have requested benefits since pre-applications opened March 30, Maine Department of Labor officials say. Of those applications, 56% were for pregnancy or newborn bonding claims, 32% were for a personal serious health condition and 11% were for a family member with a serious health condition.
The number of people requesting pre-applications is “consistent with the actuaries’ projections,” said Jessica Rivers, communications director for the department.
The actuarial report projects the program will pay out about $79 million in benefits this year.
Maine’s program was established in 2023 after Gov. Janet Mills signed it into law.
Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, said she worked for a decade to get the law passed. She said the financial stability provided by getting paid leave is helping people make life-changing decisions.
“I’ve had really emotional, wonderful conversations with couples who were thinking about leaving Maine, but were able to stay in Maine and raise their kids here because of PFML,” Daughtry said. “A woman I spoke to had been putting off surgeries because she was worried about losing her apartment, and now she can finally have them.”
The program pays eligible enrollees weekly benefits while protecting their jobs until they return.
About 22,000 employees are expected to take paid leaves this year, according to the actuarial report. That’s about 4.4% of the 495,452 employees covered by the state’s program, which includes self-employed workers. The 1% payroll tax began in January 2025.
Warner and Kelley, who are first-time parents, said they will both submit family leave claims. Their combined income is $200,000, but they have a high mortgage payment and face Portland daycare costs in the tens of thousands per year.
“We won’t be getting 100% of what we would normally expect from paychecks, but to know that we’re going to get a substantial something is extremely helpful,” Kelley said.
Benefits are calculated according to Maine’s average weekly wage, which is $1,199. The portion of a worker’s wages equal to or less than 50% of the state average will be replaced at a 90% rate, while those who earn more than 50%, like Warner and Kelley, would have the rest of their wages replaced at 66%. People can receive no more than the state average.
The replacement rates offer more protections for people making lower wages, said James Myall, policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
“The program is designed so it is easier for lower-income workers to take leave,” Myall said. “Many of them currently don’t have access to any kind of paid leave at all, or if they do, maybe it doesn’t offer enough wages for them to be able to meet basic expenses, and so they’re more likely to either not take leave at all or drop out.”
He said dropping out causes a bigger lapse, where workers ready to return to the workforce have to search and interview for a new job. And while they previously could have taken job-protected leave through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the federal program is unpaid.
“And I don’t want to have to use my hard-earned PTO,” Kelley said.
Maine women over the age of 75 live in poverty at twice the rate of men, according to a 2024 report by the Maine Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. That’s due to the gender wage gap and a disparity in unpaid care labor, in which women are more likely to leave a job or reduce hours to care for a family member.
Hohman Sprague remembers taking regular naps on her office floor when she returned to work after having a baby. She was technically back in the workforce, but said she “could not make it through the day” and contribute at her former level.
“The idea that people are robots and able to produce with efficiency while tending to their caregiving needs is absurd, and we’ve built an economy that thinks that’s true,” Hohman Sprague said. “But families know that’s not true. Women know that’s not true.”
“A program like this does not reverse that societal tide,” she said, “but it fills the gap for a lot of women who are staying home with a new baby or caring for an aging family member.”
Impact on labor
Critics argue more access to paid time off means that more people will take advantage of it. Workers without plans to take time off have decried the tax on their paychecks. Social media comments predict a surge in “summer vacation” leaves. More than a dozen bills attempted to delay, amend or repeal the law, with many citing chronic staffing shortages at Maine’s businesses.
But Nate Barr, owner of a Westbrook-based company that manufactures multitools, said when it comes to paid leave, “it’s hard to see any downside.”
“This was a good way to offer competitive employee benefits, and do the right thing by people,” Barr said. “Everyone gets a humane set of benefits for their basic needs that people need in order to thrive.”
Barr said Zootility.com is a small company and will have to figure out how to cover the work when an employee goes on extended leave, but they would be able to manage absences.
There is an exemption in which employers can determine that the timing or duration of the leave creates an undue hardship and propose a different schedule within a reasonable timeframe for the employee’s leave. Companies can also opt out of the state program if they can show they are offering their employees an equivalent benefit.
Patrick Woodcock, president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, which sued the state over the program’s payroll tax in 2025, said Maine’s benefits fall “on the generous side.” Utilization levels may be high, he said, which could make it difficult for some business owners to manage extended worker absences.
“We continue to have a very tight labor market, and so on the front of mind of many business owners is the ability to manage your workforce,” Woodcock said. “Are businesses going to be able to manage and maintain their operations?”
Woodcock said data on how the new law impacts the Maine labor market will start coming in this fall.
The actuarial report predicts the average leave will be 8.5 weeks. It can be taken continuously, intermittently or on a reduced schedule.
Warner and Kelley both work remotely. But with paid time off, they can be fully present with their baby at home. They look forward to figuring out his first weeks together.
“It’s going to be really nice for both of us to be there,” Warner said.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Hannah Kaufman can be reached at [email protected]. Joe Lawlor can be reached at [email protected].
