Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

As Maryland’s paid family and medical leave program goes into effect this year, the cost to the Ocean Pines Association will be approximately $30,000, General Manager John Viola told the association board of directors on Dec. 21.

Benefits from Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI), a program allowing Maryland workers to take time away from work to care for themselves or a family member, go into effect on July 1, 2026.

The initiative will be funded by both employees and employers, and 0.9% of wages are to be split 50/50 by each party. Employees will start paying into the benefit through payroll deduction beginning July 1, 2025. Employers will start making their contributions to the state in October 2025.

“There is a cost to us,” Viola said. “The estimated annual cost to Ocean Pines is approximately $30,000. That is something that will be an increase on the budget from last year and going forward.”

For the purpose of the program, an employer is defined as “anyone who pays a salary or wage to at least one person who works in Maryland,” the Maryland Department of Labor’s website states. A worker is “anyone who receives a salary or wage for work done in Maryland. Workers do not include independent contractors or federal government employees.”

According to Viola, employees are eligible for the benefit if they have worked 680 hours in the four most recently completed quarters. Workers will be permitted to be paid up to $1,000 a week for up to 12 weeks of time off for qualifying reasons.

Those reasons include caring for themselves or a family member with a serious health condition, arranging a family member’s military deployment, or welcoming a child through foster care or adoption into the household. The state, not an employer, approves leave.

The Maryland Department of Labor website further outlines the scope of the benefit and its eligibility requirements. For time off to be approved under this program for caring for a loved one, the individual must be either a spouse or a domestic partner, a step-parent, or biological, adopted, or foster child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling.

A valid medical condition may involve inpatient care, organ donation, continuing treatment by a healthcare professional, disability due to pregnancy, disability from chronic illness, or a permanent or long-term condition.

The program was approved in 2022 and does not exclude seasonal or part-time employees. Eligibility is also not dependent on living in Maryland. Anyone working in a Maryland-located position will be eligible for FMLI.

Furthermore, employees can contribute to the benefit even if their employer is located out of state but they work from home or in an office in Maryland.

OPA Board Vice President Rick Farr noted that “the 680 hours is a collective piece.”

“The employee is just not working 680 hours for Ocean Pines,” he said. “If they’re working another position somewhere else in the State of Maryland, those hours are accumulated on that as well … every employee, whether they’re seasonal, whether they’re part-time or full time will be affected. There is no exclusion with the State of Maryland.”

More program information can be found on the Maryland Department of Labor’s website.