About 30% of states in the United States have mandatory paid family leave (PFL) programs in place—but Kansas isn’t one of them. If employees in Kansas need time off work for any number of personal, medical, or family-related reasons, they have a few options:
Take paid leave from their employer (if their employer offers it)
Take unpaid federal leave (if they can qualify)
Use accrued paid time off (PTO) or sick days
As a Kansas-based employer or someone who employs remote workers in Kansas, you need to comply with federal leave laws. We’ll explain exactly how to do that, including which notices to distribute, and share the benefits of developing your own paid leave policy.
Do employees get paid family leave in Kansas?
Because Kansas doesn’t have a statewide PFL program, employees in Kansas only get PFL if their employer provides it.
Kansas does, however, give paid parental leave to eligible state workers, like employees in state departments and public universities. Eligible employees can take time off after the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, and receive 100% of their salary the entire time they’re gone.
Primary caregivers get eight weeks, and secondary caregivers get four weeks. To qualify, employees need to be employed with the state of Kansas for at least 180 days before taking leave.
If state employees also qualify for federal leave, they can take the two leaves concurrently with one another and will get the strongest protections from both.
Does Kansas provide paid disability leave?
No, Kansas doesn’t have a mandatory disability leave program. Disability leave guarantees workers partial wage replacement when they can’t work due to a non-work-related illness or injury.
Do Kansas employers have to provide federal leave?
Any Kansas employer that has at least 50 employees working within a 75-mile radius has to follow federal leave guidelines under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
If you’re considered a covered employer, your employees are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the following reasons:
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, you’re not obligated to give your employees FMLA leave, but you can offer your own paid leave (more on that later).
How do my employees qualify for FMLA leave?
To qualify for FMLA leave, your employees have to:
Meet one of the qualifying reasons above
Have worked for you 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
How do I comply with FMLA?
Following federal laws isn’t a choice; it’s a requirement. If you’re a covered employer under FMLA, you have a legal obligation to:
1. Tell employees about their leave rights
Informing employees that they’re entitled to leave comes down to two actions on your part:
Post the FMLA employee rights poster in a prominent part of your workplace, and in any languages your employees speak in the workplace. The poster explains which situations qualify for leave, the service and hours thresholds employees have to meet to be eligible for leave, and the protections employees are afforded during leave.
Give written notice to all your eligible employees. You can do this via email or physical handout, but you need to let your employees know they’ve met the service and hours requirement for FMLA, and can therefore request leave. In the notice, you should also include information on how and when to request leave.
2. Provide official FMLA notices
There are two notices you’re required to give employees who request leave:
1. The Rights and Responsibilities Notice explains when your employee’s leave can take place; your employee’s right to job protection, 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, and whether or not your employee needs to provide certification for the leave.
Due date: Within five days of your employee’s request for leave
2. The Designation Notice explains that your employee’s request for leave officially counts as FMLA leave, meaning they’re entitled to all the rights and protections FMLA offers.
Due date: Before your employee takes leave
3. Continue paying health insurance premiums and maintain the job
When your employees are on leave, you’re legally required to continue paying the employer portion of their health insurance premiums (if you already pay them), and to retain your employees’ positions until they’re back.
Employees are guaranteed job protection, which means they get to return to their same role, or one comparable in every way (title, job duties, work hours, pay, benefits, etc.).
4. Save all leave-related paperwork
As with taxes and HR compliance, it’s crucial to keep your leave-related documents for the past three years at all times. Make sure you save:
Employee timesheets
Employee job description
Paystubs
Official employee requests for leave
Documentation of leave start and end dates
Copies of FMLA notices
How a lack of PFL affects Kansas workers
Roughly 79% of employees in Kansas don’t have PFL through their employers, according to data gathered by the National Partnership for Women and Families. Even unpaid federal leave is inaccessible to 62% of Kansans, either because they don’t qualify for it or can’t afford to utilize it.
Without decent paid leave options, Kansas workers are left with two equally tough choices:
Return to work after using up their PTO and sick days, potentially compromising their health or their family’s wellbeing in the process, or
Quit their jobs so they can show up full-time for themselves and their families, but lose essential wages and job security to do so.
Women are disproportionately affected by the lack of paid leave in Kansas. In Kansas, 78% of Black mothers, 46% of Latina mothers, 49% of white mothers, and 41% of AAPI mothers are the main earners in their families.
When these people are forced to leave the workforce instead of taking paid leave, it creates an upsetting ripple effect: businesses lose valuable employees (and cash flow to turnover costs), families’ budgets are squeezed, and local economies stagnate.
Can I offer paid leave without the state’s help?
Yes, here’s the good news: you don’t need approval from the state of Kansas to give employees paid family or medical leave on your own. You can create a paid leave policy that addresses your employees’ most critical needs without breaking your bottom line.
Most employers who offer PFL or PFML do it by purchasing a leave insurance policy with a private insurer, then sharing the premium cost with employees. Research other state policies and your competitors’ policies to get a feel for which benchmarks to meet, then discuss your options with your benefits broker.
From there, you’ll need to define:
Qualifying leave situations: What constitutes paid family or medical leave? Having a child, taking care of a family member, and managing a personal health condition are three bases to cover.
Leave duration: How many weeks can your employees take paid leave? Anything is better than nothing, but in general, eight weeks is a good minimum to aim for.
Wage replacement: How much wage replacement will you provide? Most state programs do 50-90% of an employee’s average weekly wage.
Leave eligibility: Who’s eligible for leave? Does it depend on length of employment, hours served, etc.? Remember: strive for inclusivity with your policy; make it applicable to everyone regardless of their gender or family structure.
Need more guidance? Check out our step-by-step instructions for creating a paid parental leave policy.
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