Paid family leave (PFL), sometimes called paid family and medical leave (PFML), gives employees the freedom to take time off work for major life events and challenges, from welcoming a child to recovering from surgery.
More and more states—with Virginia being the latest—are enacting mandatory PFL programs. Iowa, however, still belongs to the majority, which is states without paid leave programs.
As an employer of Iowa residents, though, you’re still required to follow federal employee leave laws. Keep reading for specifics on how to comply and steps for creating a paid leave policy in your workplace.
Does Iowa require employers to provide paid family leave?
Iowa doesn’t require employers to provide paid leave of any kind. There’s no state-mandated PFL program. However, the state does give paid parental leave to eligible state workers, including employees in public universities, state departments, and institutions.
Here’s what’s available:
Four weeks (160 hours maximum) for parents who give birth
One week (40 hours maximum) for non-birthing parents
Four weeks (160 hours maximum) for adoptive parents
To be eligible, state employees need to:
Have worked for the state of Iowa for at least 12 months
Have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months prior to leave
Does Iowa offer paid disability leave?
There’s no state-mandated paid disability leave in Iowa, but a lot of private employers opt to buy short-term or long-term disability insurance for their employees.
If employees have disability insurance through their employers, they can get partial wage replacement when they take time off work for non-work-related illnesses or injuries.
How does federal leave work in Iowa?
All Iowa employers who have at least 50 employees working within a 75-mile radius of the business have to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The federal law guarantees eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for:
Bonding: Employees can take leave to care for and bond with a new child, including newly born, adopted, and fostered children.
Caregiving: Employees can take leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition, including spouses, children, and parents.
Medical leave: Employees can take leave to manage a serious personal health condition.
Military exigency leave: Employees can take leave to manage affairs when a family member, including a spouse, child, or parent, is on or called to active duty.
If you don’t have 50 employees or more, you’re not obligated to give your employees FMLA leave, even if they would technically qualify.
FMLA leave eligibility
To qualify for FMLA leave, employees have to:
Meet one of the qualifying reasons above
Have worked for their covered employer for at least one year (consecutively or non-consecutively)
Have over 1,250 hours of service (roughly 25 hours a week) in the 12 months immediately before leave begins
What are my employer responsibilities under FMLA?
If you’re a covered employer under FMLA (meaning you have 50+ employees working within a 75-mile radius of your workplace), you’re responsible for educating employees about their leave rights, handing out certain notices, and guaranteeing them job protection.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
1. Make employees aware of their leave rights
Your employees have the right to take unpaid leave—and keep their jobs when they return. It’s up to you to give them the heads up about what they’re entitled to.
Start by posting the official FMLA employee rights poster in a visible area of your workplace. The poster covers:
The four types of qualifying leave
Leave eligibility requirements
Employee leave protections (including continued health insurance and job reinstatement)
Instructions for filing a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division
Next, you need to give written notice to all your employees eligible for FMLA, aka anyone who has worked for you for at least a year and has 1,250 hours in service. This might be a reminder to review the FMLA leave section of your workplace handbook, an official email notice, or a physical handout upon the employee’s year of service.
Whatever the form, the notice should explain how and when employees can request a leave (federal guidelines require employees to give thirty days of notice whenever possible).
2. Distribute FMLA notices
After your employee requests a leave, you have five days to give them the Rights and Responsibilities Notice, which explains:
The 12-month period during which your employee’s leave can take place
Your employee’s tentative leave start and end dates
Your employee’s right to job protection during leave
Your employee’s right to substitute PTO for FMLA leave (and if you’ll require it)
Your employee’s right to receive continued health insurance
Whether or not your employee needs to provide certification for the leave
Then, before your employee begins leave, you need to give them the Designation Notice, which officially confirms that their leave qualifies as FMLA leave.
3. Maintain your employee’s health insurance and position
Federal leave might be unpaid, but it does afford employees two important protections: the right to continue receiving health insurance while on leave and the right to return to their job.
If you provide your employees with health insurance and pay half (or more) of their premiums, you need to keep doing so while they’re out on leave. When they come back, you’re responsible for reinstating them to their role, or one comparable in title, duties, pay, benefits, and work hours.
4. Document everything to do with leave
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recommends keeping all leave-related documentation going back three years. That includes:
Personnel information
Employee timesheets
Payroll records
Paystubs
Official employee requests for leave
Documentation of leave start and end dates
Copies of FMLA notices
Copies of leave certification papers
The benefits of providing paid leave
Offering PFL or PFML is a net positive for employees, businesses, and state economies. These programs can:
Improve health outcomes for mothers, infants, and elderly people
Keep more primary caregivers, particularly women, in the workforce
Increase employee job satisfaction, engagement, and productivity
Reduce turnover and raise employee retention rates
Stimulate local and state economies
Currently, 14 states have PFL or PFML laws in place, but here are a few standout programs:
California gives eligible employees up to eight weeks of PFL, with weekly benefit payments equal to 70-90% of an employee’s usual wages.
New York gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of PFL, with weekly benefit payments equal to 67% of an employee’s usual wages.
Colorado offers up to 12 weeks of paid Neonatal Care Leave to employees whose children have to spend time in the NICU after birth, on top of the 12 paid weeks they receive for bonding leave.
How to create a paid leave policy in your own workplace
Incorporating paid leave into your employee benefits is a smart investment in your employees’ wellbeing—and your business’s long-term success.
If you want to offer some sort of PFL or PFML in your workplace, it’s totally possible; you just need to carve out time to research your options. Here are the steps to take:
1. Pinpoint your motivation for offering paid leave
Your motivation for offering paid leave often informs your actual policy. Consider your primary goal: to better compete with your peers when hiring new talent, reduce employee turnover, or get ahead of a potential increase in employee leaves in your workforce?
Then ask yourself the following questions:
What do top companies in your industry offer for employee leave, regardless of where they’re located?
What types of paid leave should our company offer? (parental leave, caregiving, bereavement, mental health, military exigency, etc.)
Do these leave options meet our employees’ diverse needs and account for all different types of families?
How many weeks can the company offer for each type of leave?
Can the company provide 100% of employees’ usual wages on leave? If not, how much wage replacement can you offer?
Who is eligible to take leave? Do they have to reach a certain number of hours or months of employment to be eligible for leave, or does eligibility kick in right away?
If you need some inspiration, The National Partnership for Women and Families publishes an annual Leaders on Leave report highlighting companies of all sizes and breaking down their leave programs.
2. Figure out how you’re paying
In Iowa, you have two options to pay for your employees’ leave:
Purchase paid family leave insurance through a private insurer (and potentially short-term disability insurance too if you don’t have it)
Pay for family and/or medical leave out of your own pocket
Buying insurance tends to work well for most small businesses, since you can share the cost of premiums with your employees. Talk with your benefits broker and accountant about what makes sense financially.
3. Create a written leave policy
Your policy should be equitable, inclusive, and compliant with federal laws, not to mention clearly written so employees understand their rights and protections. You’ll need to decide:
What situations qualify for leave
How many weeks employees can take leave
How much wage replacement will employees receive on leave
The eligibility requirements for leave
How FMLA interacts with your leave policy
How and when to request a leave
Whether or not employees need to provide certification for their leave
How leave review and approval will work
What protections will employees be afforded during leave (e.g., job protection through FMLA)
Confidentiality during leave, especially with regard to employee medical information
Expectations and reasonable accommodations upon returning from leave
4. Communicate the new policy
Update your employee handbook, send a company-wide email announcement, and ask HR to hold office hours to address any immediate questions or concerns employees have.
Running a business in Iowa with ease
For state-specific guidance, take a look through our Gusto guides for Iowa employers:
