Delaware Maternity Leave Calculator

Delaware employers don't pay you directly during PFML leave — but Delaware Paid Leave pays you through the state-administered premium system. For 2026, the wage replacement rate is a flat 80% of your average weekly wage, capped at $900/week. This is the lowest weekly cap of any state PFML in the country. A $25,000 earner receives about $385/week. A $50,000 earner receives about $769/week. Anyone earning above ~$58,500 hits the $900 cap and receives less than 80% of their actual wages. Some Delaware employers offer voluntary top-up programs that pay the difference between DE PFML and full salary.

Delaware Paid Leave (DE PFML) is the state's paid family and medical leave program, effective January 1, 2026. It pays partial wage replacement during qualifying leave — federal FMLA is unpaid. DE PFML explicitly wraps around FMLA: it uses the same eligibility thresholds (12 months tenure + 1,250 hours), and the two programs run concurrently when both apply. Unlike CT, MN, CO, or OR (which built broad state job protection at any employer size into their PFML laws), DE doesn't add separate state-level job protection — your right to return to your job comes from FMLA only (which applies at 50+ employee employers). Workers at 10-49 employee DE employers get pay but no job protection.

DE PFML pays a flat 80% of your average weekly wage over the 12 months preceding your application, capped at $900/week. Minimum benefit is $100/week (or AWW if less). Examples: A $25,000 earner ($480.77/week AWW) gets ~$385/week. A $50,000 earner ($961.54/week) gets ~$769/week. A $58,500 earner ($1,125/week) gets exactly $900 — the cap. An $80,000 earner ($1,538.46/week) is capped at $900/week (instead of the 80% calculation that would yield $1,231). A $200,000 earner is also capped at $900/week. The flat 80% rate is generous (most states use tiered or piecewise formulas that pay lower rates on higher portions of wages), but the low cap means high earners get a smaller share of their actual wages than any other state PFML.

Delaware's coverage depends on employer size. Employers with fewer than 10 eligible employees are NOT required to participate (they can voluntarily opt in through Delaware LaborFirst). Employers with 10-24 eligible employees must provide Parental Leave only (12 weeks for bonding with a new child) — they can voluntarily opt in to Medical and Family Caregiving coverage. Employers with 25 or more eligible employees must provide all three coverages (Parental, Medical, Family Caregiving) plus Qualified Exigency. So if you're at a small DE employer (<25), check whether your employer has opted in to full coverage or whether you only have Parental leave available. Eligibility for individual benefits also requires 12+ months tenure and 1,250+ hours in the last 12 months.

Delaware PFML uses a Combined Annual Maximum of 12 weeks per Application Period across all four leave types. For birthing parents, pre-birth disability and childbirth recovery fall under Medical Leave (6-week sub-cap per 24-month period), while bonding falls under Parental Leave (up to 12 weeks). The combined cap of 12 weeks means: vaginal birth's 4 pre-birth + 6 recovery + 12 bonding = 22 naive total truncates to 12 (bonding = 2 weeks). C-section's 4 + 8 + 12 = 24 truncates to 12 (bonding = 0 weeks). Non-birthing parents get the full 12 weeks of Parental Leave because there's no medical leg consuming the bucket. The structure is similar to Connecticut, Colorado, and Oregon — all of which use single 12-week buckets.

DE PFML is funded through premiums split between employees and employers. For 2026 (full coverage at 25+ employees), the total premium is 0.8% of wages, broken down as: Parental Leave 0.32% + Medical Leave 0.40% + Family Caregiver/QE 0.08%. Employers can require employees to pay up to 50% of the total premium (0.40% at full coverage). Small employers (10-24 employees) only pay the Parental rate (0.32%), and employees at those firms pay up to 0.16%. Employers under 10 employees don't pay anything unless they opt in. The premium applies to wages up to the Federal Social Security taxable maximum ($184,500 for 2026). Equivalent plan opt-out is permitted — about 120 employers were grandfathered with pre-existing comparable plans through Dec 31, 2029.

Yes — DE has the most restrictive tenure eligibility of any state PFML program. You must have worked for your current DE employer for at least 12 months (cumulative; you can have gaps as long as they're under 7 years and you came back) AND at least 1,250 hours in the last 12 months (actual hours worked, not vacation or PTO). These thresholds match federal FMLA exactly. If you've recently switched jobs in Delaware, you start over — your tenure with the new employer counts, but your prior tenure at a different DE employer doesn't. This is significantly stricter than Connecticut (90 days), Minnesota (90 days), Oregon (90 days), Colorado (180 days), or California/New York/New Jersey (no tenure requirement at all for benefits, just earnings history).