2025 Benefit Payment FAQs
Beginning January 1, 2025, many new disability and Paid Family Leave (PFL) claims will be paid higher benefit amounts, including up to 90% of wages for individuals making less than $63,000 per year, and 70% of wages for higher income workers.
- Disability and PFL benefit rates will increase to about 70-90% of regular weekly wages for benefit payments on new claims in 2025. Higher rates mean higher benefit payments for many customers.
- All disability and PFL claims that start in 2024 will be calculated at 60-70% of wages even if the claim continues into 2025.
- All pregnancy-related claims beginning in 2024 will get 60-70% of wages for both their disability and PFL baby bonding claim, even if the PFL claim begins in 2025.
We’ll use the date your claim starts and your income level to determine the benefit rate to calculate your payments. Your claim’s start date is the date you request to begin receiving benefits. We do not use the date you submit your application.
| Claim Start Date | Benefit Rate |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 60–70% of wages |
| 2025 | 70–90% of wages |
We multiply your benefit rate times your regular weekly wages to calculate the benefit payment you’ll receive during your claim.
How We Calculate Your Weekly Benefit Amount
Your weekly benefit amount is an estimate based on wages earned 5 to 18 months before your claim start date. The 2025 minimum weekly benefit amount is $50, and the maximum is $1,681.
You can get a general estimate of your benefit amount by using our online calculator.
| Annual Income (12 months) |
Highest 3-Month (Quarterly) Earnings | Weekly Benefit Amount (approximate) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1,199.96 | Less than $300 | Not eligible |
| $1,200 to $2,889.96 | $300 to $722.49 | $50 |
|
$2,890 to $62,025.60 |
$722.50 to $15,506.40 | 90% of weekly wages |
| $62,025.64 to $79,747.20 | $15,506.41 to $19,936.80 | $1,074 |
| More than $79,747.20 | $19,936.81 or more | 70% of weekly wages up to a $1,681 maximum |
Yes. If you can choose when to have your surgery and you request to start receiving disability benefits after January 1, 2025, you would receive the higher rate of 70-90% to calculate your benefit payments.
If you start your benefit claim in 2024, we will use the lower rate of 60-70% of wages to calculate your benefit payments.
No. PFL bonding that follows a pregnancy disability claim is considered the same claim. The benefit rate we use to calculate your payment will always be the same for both the pregnancy disability and PFL parts of your claim. If your disability pregnancy claim started in 2024, your PFL bonding rate stays the same.
Yes. New parents of adopted or foster children who apply for PFL bonding with a claim starting January 1, 2025, or later, will receive the higher benefit rate of 70-90% of their regular weekly wages. You must complete your bonding claim within one year of the child joining your family.
Yes. New parents who did not have a pregnancy disability claim and who apply for PFL bonding with a claim starting January 1, 2025, or later, will receive the higher benefit rate of 70-90% of their regular weekly wages. Non-birth giving parents include moms who did not have a pregnancy disability claim, dads, foster parents, registered domestic partners, and adoptive parents. You must complete your bonding claim within one year of the child joining your family.
The following examples provide family situations about how two different family members might apply separately for disability and Paid Family Leave benefits:
Example 1:
Alice and Bob are expecting a new baby. Alice is due December 6, 2024. She stops working about four weeks before her due date. Alice plans to start her pregnancy disability claim on November 11, 2024, which is also the first day she’ll miss work.
- 2024 benefit rates are 60%-70%.
- Alice earns $29,000 per year which puts her in the 60% benefit rate.
- Alice’s doctor is certifying the end of her pregnancy disability as January 17.
- Alice can start her PFL bonding claim on January 18, 2025.
Because Alice’s pregnancy-related disability starts in 2024 and continues into 2025, her benefit rate will continue to be 60% since it’s calculated from 2024 when her claim started. The same rate will also be applied to her PFL bonding benefit payments in 2025, since they are based on her original 2024 pregnancy disability claim.
Bob is waiting to take baby bonding starting in January 2025. He plans a claim start date of January 6 for his PFL bonding claim. He makes $80,000 per year, which places him in the new 70% benefit rate category. Because he is starting his claim in January, he is receiving the higher 2025 rates.
Example 2:
Mary has cancer and is starting chemotherapy on December 15, 2024. She has enough sick leave from her employer to cover her time off until January 7, 2025. She plans her disability claim start date to be January 8, 2025. Because Mary’s claim first starts in 2025, she will be eligible for the new 2025 benefit rates. Mary makes $100,000 a year and will be eligible for the new 70% benefit rate for higher income earners.
Mary’s son, John, will be taking care of her starting in February. John plans to take leave from work to care for his mother during her recovery. He will start his PFL caregiving claim on February 10, 2025. John makes $50,000 a year and will qualify for the new 90% benefit rate for lower income earners.