Washington expanded the covered uses and definition of a family member under Washington’s paid sick leave law effective January 1, 2025.

Under Washington’s paid sick leave law employers must provide non-exempt employees with at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours the employee works. Leave accrual is not capped, which means there is no limit on the amount of paid sick leave hours an employee can accrue in one year. Employers are required to allow employees to carry over 40 unused hours each year.

Employees may use accrued paid sick leave for certain legally protected reasons, including: (1) the employee’s personal medical care; (2) to care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; (3) to care for a child when their school or place of care is closed by a public official for a health-related reason; (4) closure of the employee’s place of business for a health-related reason; or (5) for reasons under Washington’s Domestic Violence Leave Act.

The definition of who is considered an employee’s family member or child for purposes of using paid sick leave has been expanded as follows:

• The definition of “family member” is revised to include any individual who regularly resides in the employee’s home and “who has a relationship with them that creates an expectation that they would take care of them during an illness.” Family member does not include an individual who resides in the same home with no expectation that the employee will care for the individual.
• “Child” now also includes the spouse of the employee’s child.
• “Grandchild” and “grandparent” will be defined to mean the employee’s grandchild or grandparent.