Delaware Paid Leave Calculator: Delaware Paid Leave Benefits (2026)

How much does Delaware Paid Leave pay in Delaware?

Delaware Paid Leave (Healthy Delaware Families Act) pays 80 percent of your average weekly wage over the 52 weeks before the claim, between a $100 floor (or your full wage if lower) and a $900 cap for 2026 and 2027. A worker on $1,500 a week receives about $900, 60 percent of pay. Benefits run for up to 6 weeks for your own health condition, 12 weeks for family leave, and 12 weeks combined. There is no waiting period. To qualify you need 12 months with your employer and 1,250 hours in the last 12 months, at an employer with 10 or more employees (25 or more for medical and caregiving leave). The program is funded by a 0.8 percent premium, of which employers may deduct up to half from employees. The $900 cap is fixed through 2027 and may be indexed from 2028. Figures effective January 1, 2026, checked September 14, 2026.

How is the Delaware weekly benefit calculated?

Delaware Paid Leave (Healthy Delaware Families Act) pays 80 percent of your average weekly wage over the 52 weeks before the claim, between a $100 floor (or your full wage if lower) and a $900 cap for 2026 and 2027. The state works out your average weekly wage from the wages your employers reported for the base period, not from your current pay stub, so a recent raise or a change of hours may not be reflected yet.

Three examples with the current figures. A Delaware worker earning $800 a week receives about $640, which is 80 percent of pay. At $1,500 a week the benefit is $900, or 60 percent. At $3,000 a week it is $900, because the $900 weekly maximum applies, or 30 percent. Anyone earning about $1,130 a week or more in Delaware receives the maximum, so the share of pay replaced keeps falling as wages rise above that. The weekly floor is $100, or your full wage if you earn less than that.

How many weeks does Delaware Paid Leave pay?

Up to 12 weeks of parental leave per year; up to 6 weeks of medical, family caregiving, or military leave in any 24-month period; and no more than 12 weeks of all types combined in an application year. The calculator caps the weeks you enter at the limit for the leave type you choose and shows the total, so you can see at a glance what 12 weeks would be worth at your wage.

Waiting period: none. The first week of an approved leave is a paid week, which is not the case in every state.

Who qualifies for Delaware Paid Leave?

12 months with your current employer and at least 1,250 hours worked in the last 12 months, the same test as the FMLA. Employers with 25 or more employees are fully covered; employers with 10 to 24 owe parental leave only; 9 or fewer are exempt.

Who pays for it: 0.8 percent of wages up to the Social Security wage base (0.4 percent medical, 0.08 percent family caregiving, 0.32 percent parental); employers may deduct up to half, at most 0.4 percent, from employees. The benefit itself comes from the state fund or an approved private plan, not from your employer's payroll, which is why it continues if you change jobs during the base period and why it is separate from any company parental or sick leave you also have.

Is your job protected while you receive Delaware Paid Leave?

Delaware Paid Leave protects the job: you must be restored to the same or an equivalent position and health coverage continues during leave.

Delaware has no general state family and medical leave statute separate from the paid program, so beyond the protection described above the job-protection floor is the federal FMLA. The federal FMLA adds 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for employees with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours at an employer with 50 or more employees, and where both apply the paid benefit and the FMLA run at the same time rather than back to back.

When do the Delaware figures change?

The $900 cap is fixed for 2026 and 2027; from January 1, 2028 it may rise with the Philadelphia-area consumer price index. The figures on this page took effect on January 1, 2026 and were checked on September 14, 2026 against the amounts published by Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Paid Leave. Statute: 19 Del. C. Chapter 37.