Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave: 1% of wages in 2026
In effectChecked November 8, 2026Run by Maine Department of Labor (MDOL), Paid Family and Medical Leave
Short answer
Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program, run by the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL), is funded by a premium the law caps at 1.0% of wages, which employers have sent in every quarter since January 1, 2025. Employers with 15 or more employees may deduct up to half of it from workers’ pay and pay the rest; employers with fewer than 15 send only the worker half. MDOL began accepting claims on March 30, 2026, and began paying benefits on May 1, 2026.
For 2026, the premium is 1% of wages up to $184,500, and employers may deduct up to 0.5% from employees.
Next date: February 1, 2027: Fourth-quarter 2026 premiums and contribution report due through the Maine Paid Leave Portal. January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday.
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- Premium, share of wages
- 1%
- Most you may deduct from employees
- 0.5%
- Employer pays at least
- 0.5%
- Wages subject to premium, per employee
- $184,500
- 2027 premium
- 1%
Fewer than 15 employees: send 0.5% (the worker half) with no employer share; all of it may be deducted from workers.
Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave premium calculator
In 2026, Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums are 1% of each employee’s wages up to $184,500 a year. With 15 or more employees, employers may deduct up to 0.5% from pay and must cover the rest (at least 0.5%).
- Total premium a year
- $250.00
- Most you may deduct from employees
- $250.00
- Employer pays at least
- $0.00
Standard rates applied: 15 or more employees.
Small-employer rule applied: 14 or fewer employees. Fewer than 15 employees: send 0.5% (the worker half) with no employer share; all of it may be deducted from workers.
Assumes the full employee share is deducted. Employer size is tested on the number you enter here; each program counts employees its own way, and the page explains how.
Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave deadlines
· Paid leave
Fourth-quarter 2026 premiums and contribution report due through the Maine Paid Leave Portal
January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday.
· Paid leave
Second-quarter 2027 premiums and contribution report due
July 31 is a Saturday, so the deadline moves to Monday.
· Paid leave
Third-quarter 2027 premiums and contribution report due
October 31 is a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday.
· Paid leave
First-quarter 2028 premiums and contribution report due
April 30 is a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday.
· Paid leave
Last day for MDOL to set the 2029 premium
Dates already passed (2)
- : The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) began paying benefits, after accepting claims from March 30, 2026.
- : Employers began sending quarterly contribution reports and premiums on wages.
What employers have to do
- Register in the Maine Paid Leave Portal, the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) online system. Every covered employer must register, and you report your employer size when you do and again with each third-quarter wage report.
- File your contribution report and send premiums through the portal every quarter, on or before the last day of the month after the quarter ends, or the next business day when that date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
- Deduct no more than half of the premium from each worker’s wages (up to 0.5% at the 1.0% rate) and stop once the worker’s wages for the year reach the Social Security wage base.
- With 15 or more employees, send the full premium, including your own share of at least half; with fewer than 15, send the worker half.
- Post MDOL’s workplace notice in a conspicuous place, in English and in each language that is the primary language of 3 or more employees at that workplace when MDOL provides it.
- Give each new employee MDOL’s written notice within 30 days of their start date, in their primary language, covering benefits, their contribution, your employer ID number and how to file a claim.
Handling Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave in payroll
The free route: register directly with the state
You can register and report on your own through Maine Department of Labor (MDOL), Paid Family and Medical Leave. You’ll still need your payroll to figure the premium on each paycheck and withhold any employee share.
Payroll systems with a help document covering Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave
| System | What the documentation says | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Gusto | Maine tax article says Gusto calculates and withholds PFML contributions and sends payments and filings (ME PFML-1 wage reports) to the state. Read their help doc, Nov 8, 2026 | See plans for Gusto |
| OnPay | Help article explains setting up Maine PFML in OnPay and says entering the PFML ID lets OnPay report contributions to the state. Read their help doc, Nov 7, 2026 | See plans for OnPay |
| Patriot Software | Help article says Patriot calculates Maine PFML for all payroll customers and collects, remits and files it for Full Service customers. Read their help doc, Nov 7, 2026 | See plans for Patriot Software |
| QuickBooks Payroll | Help article explains setting up Maine PFML contributions and says full-service payroll customers have the tax paid and filed for them. Read their help doc, Nov 7, 2026 | See plans for QuickBooks Payroll |
| Square Payroll | Maine tax article says Square Payroll deducts up to the statutory employee share of PFML and recalculated 2026 PFML filings when it reset pick-up settings. Read their help doc, Nov 7, 2026 | See plans for Square Payroll |
Listed alphabetically. We may earn a commission from these links; it never decides who’s listed.
How Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave works
The premium is capped by law at 1.0% of wages from January 1, 2025, and is charged on wages up to the Social Security wage base ($184,500 in 2026, $192,300 in 2027). An employer with 15 or more employees may deduct up to 50% of the premium from each worker’s wages and must send 100% of it to the state fund. An employer with fewer than 15 employees may also deduct up to 50% and sends only that 50%. Reports and premiums are due every quarter, in the form the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) sets, on or before the last day of the month after the quarter ends; a due date on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next business day. Starting with 2028, MDOL must set each year’s premium by October 1 of the year before, at the level needed to keep the fund solvent.
At 1.0% of wages, a $50,000 salary carries a $500 annual premium. An employer with 15 or more employees pays at least $250 of it and may deduct up to $250 from the worker. An employer with fewer than 15 employees sends only the worker half, $250, which it may deduct in full. Starting in tax year 2027, half of the medical leave benefits paid to employees of employers with 15 or more workers count as wages subject to Social Security and Medicare tax. The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) says it will pay the employer’s share of those payroll taxes during the program’s initial phase.
Up to 12 weeks of family leave and 12 weeks of medical leave in a benefit year, with no more than 12 weeks combined, except that medical leave during pregnancy or recovery from childbirth may be followed by family leave. Family leave covers bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, military family needs and safe leave for victims of violence. The weekly benefit replaces 90% of the part of a worker’s average weekly wage up to half the state average weekly wage, plus 66% of the part above that, up to a maximum equal to the state average weekly wage. Medical leave benefits are not paid for the first 7 calendar days. To qualify, a worker must have earned at least 6 times the state average weekly wage in the base period.
Questions employers ask
Who has to follow Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave?
Any business that employs people at a location in Maine, of any size, plus the State and Maine counties, cities and towns. The federal government is excluded, and independent contractors are not employees. Self-employed people and tribal governments may elect coverage.
Is there a small-employer rule?
Employers with fewer than 15 employees do not pay an employer share. They may deduct up to half of the premium (0.5% of wages at the 1.0% rate) from each worker and send that half to the state fund (26 M.R.S. section 850-F(5)). Size is based on covered employees under the employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) on the payroll in 20 or more calendar workweeks in the 12 months before September 30. Employers calculate it each October 1 for the next calendar year and report it when they register and during third-quarter wage reporting (12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1, section X.H).
What happens if an employer doesn’t comply?
An employer that fails to send premiums or contribution reports on time is assessed 1.0% of its total payroll for the quarter involved, after the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) gives notice and a period to correct the problem, plus the benefits paid to workers it did not pay premiums for. The statute sets the assessment at 1.0% of total annual payroll for each year, or fraction of a year, of non-compliance (26 M.R.S. section 850-F(9)), and MDOL’s rule applies it by the quarter (12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1, section XI). Once appeals are used up, MDOL can sue to collect or levy on third parties holding the employer’s property, and a buyer of the business can be liable for unpaid premiums up to the value of what it bought. Notice violations carry a civil penalty of $50 per employee for a first violation and $150 per employee for each later one (section 850-I).
Can employers use a private plan instead?
Allowed. An employer may apply to the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) to meet the law through a private plan that gives substantially equivalent rights and benefits and costs workers no more than the state premium (26 M.R.S. section 850-H). The plan can be insurance from a company authorized in Maine or self-insurance backed by a surety bond, and it must cover all employees. Employers with an approved plan do not send premiums to the state fund, but they still file quarterly wage reports through the Maine Paid Leave Portal, with premium liability of zero on those reports. An approval is valid for three years. The application fee is $250, plus $250 more if the plan is approved, and fees are subject to increase. Employers whose plans began paying benefits May 1, 2026 also file an annual data report through the portal by July 31, 2027, and each year after that.
Everything employers in Maine must do ·Paid leave in every state
Sources
- 26 M.R.S. sections 850-A to 850-R
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-A, Definitions (employer, employee, covered individual), Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-B, Program established; leave reasons and maximum weeks, Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-C, Payment of benefits (waiting period, benefit formula, maximum weekly benefit), Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-F, Premiums (1.0% cap from January 1, 2025; 15-employee rule; wage base; annual rate-setting from 2028; assessment and collection), Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 8, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-H, Substitution of private plans, Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-I, Notice (posting, written notice within 30 days, $50 and $150 penalties), Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- Maine PFML employer FAQ (July 2026): 2025 to 2027 contribution rate, quarterly due dates, weekend rule, employer size count, private plans, tax treatment of benefits from 2027, Maine Department of Labor, Paid Family and Medical Leave (read Nov 8, 2026)
- 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1, Rules governing the Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Program (section X premiums, due dates and employer size; section XI failure to remit), Maine Department of Labor (Secretary of State copy) (read Nov 8, 2026)
- Maine Paid Leave: Employers (register for the Maine Paid Leave Portal, employer responsibilities), Maine Department of Labor (read Nov 8, 2026)
- MDOL news release: PFML began accepting claims March 30, 2026, and began paying benefits May 1, 2026, Maine Department of Labor (read Nov 8, 2026)
- Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2027 (contribution and benefit base: $192,300 for 2027, $184,500 for 2026), FR Doc. 2026-21796, Social Security Administration (Federal Register) (read Nov 8, 2026)
- 26 M.R.S. section 850-P, Implementation (contributions from January 1, 2025; claims processing from May 1, 2026), Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes (read Nov 7, 2026)
- Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates (2026 wage base limit $184,500), Internal Revenue Service (read Nov 7, 2026)