An employer deciding what disability cover to buy needs to know what its states already provide, because private cover sits on top of a statutory floor rather than instead of it. Washington and Connecticut both run their own paid leave programs, and a handful of other states do too. This page is about the order of operations: establish the statutory floor first, understand that job protection and wage replacement are different things, and only then price the top-up.
The floor comes first, and it is state by state
Several states operate statutory disability or paid family and medical leave programs funded by payroll contributions, and where one exists it pays a share of wages up to a cap without the employer buying anything. Washington and Connecticut both run such a program. Rates, caps and durations are set annually by each state and published by each state's own agency, so the only reliable source is the state's current notice, which is why this page points at them rather than reproducing a figure that expires.
What a state program looks like in practice
The pattern across the programs is a percentage of the employee's own recent wages, capped at a weekly maximum, for a bounded number of weeks, with the funding coming from payroll contributions rather than from a policy you buy. California's own published schedule is the clearest illustration of the shape: 70% of weekly wages up to a $1,765 maximum at the top band it publishes. Every state's numbers differ and every state's change annually.
Short term disability vs FMLA: job protection is not wage replacement
This is the distinction that causes the most confusion, and it is simple: the federal Family and Medical Leave Act protects an eligible employee's job and health coverage for a period of leave, and it does not pay them. State programs and private insurance pay. So the honest comparison is not disability cover against FMLA, it is job protection running alongside wage replacement, and an employee can be covered by one, both or neither. This site publishes no legal advice; the Department of Labor's own page is linked.
The order of operations for an employer
List the states you employ in. For each, find the state agency's current program notice and record the replacement rate, the cap and the duration. Establish separately who is FMLA-eligible, which turns on employer size and the employee's own service. Then price private cover to sit on top of the floor you found, and coordinate it with your own sick pay. Buying cover before doing this is how employers pay twice for the first six weeks.
Questions people ask about Washington state short term disability
Does Washington run a short term disability programme?
Washington operates its own statutory paid family and medical leave program funded by payroll contributions, so an employer with staff there is buying private cover on top of a floor rather than instead of one. The state agency's current notice is the only reliable source for the rate, cap and duration, because all three are set annually.
What about Connecticut?
Connecticut also runs its own program on the same general pattern: a share of recent wages, capped, for a bounded period, funded by payroll contributions. As with Washington, read the state's own current notice rather than any reproduced figure.
Is FMLA short term disability?
No, and conflating them is the most common error here. FMLA protects an eligible employee's job and health coverage during leave; it pays nothing. Wage replacement comes from a state program or private insurance. An employee can have one, both or neither.
What should we do first?
List your states, read each state agency's current program notice for the rate, cap and duration, establish separately who is FMLA-eligible, and only then price private cover to sit on top. Doing it the other way round is how employers buy cover for weeks the state already pays.