More and more states have enacted mandatory paid leave programs, but New Hampshire made headlines in 2023 as the first state to implement a voluntary paid family and medical leave (PFML) plan.
If you run a business in New Hampshire or employ workers there, it’s worth understanding the functionality and appeal of the state’s plan. Below, we explain what the program entails, how much it costs, and how you can participate.
What is the New Hampshire Paid Family and Medical Leave plan?
New Hampshire Paid Family and Medical Leave (NH PFML) is a voluntary insurance plan that gives employees six weeks of paid family or medical leave for qualifying reasons. New Hampshire workers can take paid leave to:
Bond with a newborn, adopted, or fostered child
Manage a serious personal health condition (including childbirth) not covered by disability insurance
Care for a family member with a serious health condition
Manage affairs when a military spouse, child, or parent is on active duty
Care for a military spouse, child, parent, or next of kin who has a serious illness or injury
Eligible workers get 60% of their average weekly wage during leave, up to the Social Security wage cap.
Can any business opt into NH PFML?
Any New Hampshire employer with a physical business location in the state can obtain NH PFML insurance for their employees (including for-profit and nonprofit entities). You purchase NH PFML through MetLife, New Hampshire’s PFML insurance partner.
You can go with a different insurance provider if you want, as long as you get approval from the NH Department of Insurance. However, you won’t be eligible for the tax credit that businesses who apply through MetLife receive.
Sole proprietors can enroll in the NH PFML individual plan if they work for themselves, pay themselves W-2 compensation, and have no employees.
What does the NH PFML employer group plan provide?
If you purchase an employer group plan with MetLife, you’re getting:
Both paid family leave and paid medical leave in a single insurance policy
Options to offer full day, reduced schedule, and incremental leave
60% wage replacement for employees
Six guaranteed weeks of wage replacement benefits per benefit year, with an optional 12-week coverage plan
Business Enterprise Tax (BET) tax credit (50% of the premium paid by the employer each year)
Flexibility to pay for premiums via employer and/or employee contributions
Access to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for employees, whether they’re on leave or not
Which employees are eligible for NH PFML?
Any employee who works for an employer with an NH PFML insurance plan can take leave. If someone's employer doesn’t participate in the program, they can purchase their own individual NH PFML insurance plan.
What does NH PFML cost?
New Hampshire’s voluntary insurance plan is funded by employer and employee premiums. MetLife determines how much premiums cost for employer group plans when businesses enroll. The exact amount depends on the specific plan you choose, the size of your workforce, how much your employees earn, and whether or not you add a short-term disability policy to the plan.
As an employer, you can choose to do one of three things:
Cover 100% of insurance premiums for your employees
Split the premium cost with your employees
Pass the full premium cost to your employees
For individual plans, state law caps the cost of NH PFML insurance at $5 a week ($260 a year).
Does New Hampshire offer other types of leave?
New Hampshire’s Parent Medical Leave Law (RSA 275) went into effect on January 1, 2026. Now, New Hampshire employers with 20 or more workers have to provide them with 25 hours of unpaid, job-protected leave for medical appointments.
Employees can take those 25 hours intermittently or consecutively to either:
Attend their own personal appointments for childbirth and postpartum care, or
Attend pediatric appointments during the first year after their child’s birth or adoption.
What is federal leave, and how does it work with NH PFML?
A quick refresher: the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that requires employers with at least 50 employees to give their eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during qualifying life events.
Employees can take FMLA leave to:
Care for and bond with a new child (this applies to newly born, adopted, and fostered children)
Care for a family member who has a serious health condition (this applies to spouses, children, and parents)
Manage a serious personal health condition
Manage affairs when a family member is on or called to active duty (this applies to spouses, children, and parents)
FMLA leave may be unpaid, but it comes with two important employee protections: continued health insurance during leave and job restoration after leave, both of which you’re responsible for upholding as an employer.
Who’s eligible for FMLA leave?
Any New Hampshire worker who meets all the following criteria can take FMLA leave:
Work for an employer that has at least 50 employees who work within a 75-mile radius
Need time off from work for bonding, caregiving, personal medical reasons, or military exigency
Have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, consecutively or non-consecutively
Have over 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before leave begins
Can employees take NH PFML and FMLA leave?
If you’re a covered employer under FMLA, meaning you have at least 50 employees who work within a 75-mile radius, your employees can request FMLA leaves. If you purchase an NH PFML plan too, it’s possible your employees could qualify for both types of leave. If they do, the leaves run concurrently with one another.
Let’s say you’re a covered FMLA employer and you’ve enrolled in an NH PFML employer group plan. One of your employees files a claim to take bonding leave.
Under New Hampshire’s plan, they can take six weeks of paid leave and receive weekly payments of 60% of their usual wages. However, if they also meet FMLA leave eligibility requirements, they can take an additional six weeks of unpaid leave (12 total weeks of FMLA leave, the first six of which occurred alongside the paid state leave). During FMLA leave, your employee is entitled to continued health insurance coverage and job protection.
How does NH PFML work with other benefits?
Employees can’t double-dip on most benefits, which means:
Employees can’t use NH PFML benefits for the same days as short-term or long-term disability benefits.
Employees can’t receive NH PFML benefits if they’re eligible for worker’s compensation benefits.
What are my employer responsibilities with NH PFML?
Even if you don’t opt into the NH PFML program, you’re still responsible for participating in the claims process for employees covered under individual plans. And if you do enroll in an employer group plan, you have even more admin to do.
Prepare to:
1. Assist with covered workers’ claims
All New Hampshire employers have to support covered workers with their claims by providing relevant information to MetLife. That might be wage details, work schedules, and a list of other employer-provided benefits.
And as with all types of leave, you’re not allowed to discriminate or retaliate against workers for accessing NH PFML benefits; if you do, you could be subject to hefty fines or lawsuits from employees.
2. Answer employee questions
Whether you purchase an NH PFML plan or not, your employees will have valid questions. They’ll want to know what the plan provides, what it costs, and how to opt in. They might have concerns about how a paid leave plan intersects with FMLA or disability leave, and whether NH PFML provides job protection or not.
Regardless of your plan status, you should be prepared to answer employees as thoroughly as you can, then direct them to MetLife when you can’t.
3. Facilitate plan enrollment
If you decide to enroll in an employer group plan, you have a critical choice: fund 100% of the premium yourself, pass 100% of the premium to your employees, or share the premium.
If you fund the full cost yourself, your employees will be automatically enrolled in your employer group plan. But if you require employees to pay any or all of the premium, you’ll have to give them the chance to accept or decline coverage through open enrollment.
3. Make premium payments
How you pay PFML insurance premiums depends on how large your workforce is. New Hampshire assigns different responsibilities to large and small employers. Here are the distinctions:
Payment method | Payroll deductions | Continued health insurance to employees on leave | Job protection | |
Small employers (1-49 employees) | Make premium payments directly through MetLife | Not required to collect employee premiums through payroll deductions | Not required | Only required if an employee qualifies for FMLA leave |
Large employers (50+ employees) | Pay employer premiums and collect employee premiums through payroll deductions | Required to collect employee premiums through payroll deductions,* unless employers pay 100% of the premiums themselves | Required | Only required if an employee qualifies for FMLA leave |
*Even if they don’t have an NH PFML plan, large employers still have to collect employee premiums via payroll deductions for employees on individual insurance plans.
For more information, check out these FAQs for employers.
What are the business benefits of opting into NH PFML?
If you subscribe to the idea that your business is only as successful as the people you hire, then investing in paid leave is the ultimate strategic growth decision.
Paid leave gives your employees the gift of time and financial security during what could be some of the hardest seasons of their lives. And the peace of mind that comes with having permission and practical support to be away from work is invaluable.
That’s why paid leave can positively impact your workforce in every way. You might see improved employee well-being across the board, greater workplace productivity and morale, and higher retention rates long-term. Recruiting and hiring also gets easier when you have a standout benefit to advertise.
Plus, when it comes to PFML programs, New Hampshire’s is pretty low stakes. Here’s why:
You have total flexibility over how you pay the insurance premiums; you’re not locked into a particular annual cost. Plus, you can get a BET credit for 50% of the premiums you do pay if you go through MetLife.
You’re only signing on for six weeks of paid employee leave, which is minimal in the big picture of employee tenure.
You give your employees the option to participate or not.
You don’t have to manage the leave process yourself. MetLife reviews claims and coordinates directly with your employees, only contacting your business to confirm certain employee information.
Do I have to change my business’s employee leave policy?
To some degree, yes. Your business’s internal leave policy should include information on New Hampshire’s voluntary insurance plan, as well as FMLA leave.
If you enroll in an NH PFML employer group plan, your leave policy should break down:
Qualifying leave situations
Leave duration
Partial wage replacement
Premium payments
Employee eligibility
Employee protections during leave
Intersection with FMLA leave
Coordination with other employee benefits
How and when to file a claim for leave
If you don’t enroll in an employer group plan, you still need to update your policy because some of your employees might purchase individual insurance plans. Make sure you:
Include an overview of NH PFML.
Explain how NH PFML interacts with FMLA leave.
Explain whether or not you’ll withhold employee premium payments through payroll deductions. As a reminder, if you have 50 or more workers, you’re required to withhold premiums for individuals. If you have fewer than 50 workers, you don’t have to; any of your employees enrolled in individual plans will receive billing statements directly from MetLife.
More resources for New Hampshire employers
Want more New Hampshire-specific business support? Take a look at our state guides below:
