Maine Paid Family Leave Calculator

Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave

How Maine figures your weekly benefit

Maine's benefit starts from your average weekly wage: the wages reported for you in your base period, divided by 52. The Paid Family and Medical Leave rule then applies two tiers. First, half of the state average weekly wage is rounded up to the whole dollar; that is the Tier 1 wage cap, $625 for claims that use the July 1, 2026 figure of $1,249.12. The part of your average weekly wage up to that cap is replaced at 90%, rounded up to the whole dollar. The part above the cap is replaced at 66%, also rounded up. The two amounts are added, and the result cannot be more than the maximum weekly benefit, which the statute sets equal to the state average weekly wage.

In the default example, $52,000 of base period wages gives an average of $1,000.00 a week. Tier 1 pays 90% of $625, rounded up to $563. Tier 2 pays 66% of the remaining $375, or $247.50, rounded up to $248. The weekly benefit is $811, about 81% of the average weekly wage. Lower earners get a larger share: with $10,000 of base period wages the average is $192.31 and the benefit is $174, about 90%.

Source: Maine Department of Labor, Estimated PFML Premium and Benefit Amounts Based on Earnings (2026). The calculator reproduces every row of the Department's chart; the premium column is the 0.5% employees can be charged.

The state average weekly wage and the maximum

The state average weekly wage is updated each July 1. The rule uses the figure published on the July 1 before your application or the start of your leave, whichever is earlier. The Maine Department of Labor's figure is $1,249.12 from July 1, 2026 and was $1,198.84 from July 1, 2025. The Department's chart and online estimator use a $1,250 maximum weekly benefit, and its April 2026 webinar showed benefits capped at $1,199 under the earlier figure. You reach the $1,250 maximum with about $86,550 of base period wages. The law also lets the Department adjust the maximum once a year, taking into account the recommendation of the program's Benefits Authority; an adjusted maximum takes effect on January 1 of the following year.

Sources: Maine Workers' Compensation Board notice of the Department of Labor's state average weekly wage (August 14, 2026); Maine Department of Labor chart, estimator and April 2026 webinar; 12-702 C.M.R. ch. 1, section VIII. The cap and the earnings needed are our arithmetic from those figures.

If your leave had started in June 2026, the calculator would use the earlier figure: a $600 Tier 1 cap, so the same $52,000 would pay $540 plus $264, or $804 a week.

Do you meet the earnings requirement?

To be covered you must have earned at least 6 times the state average weekly wage in your base period: $7,494.72 with the July 1, 2026 figure. The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your benefit year, and your benefit year starts in the week your leave starts. The Department's example: if you need to be out of work starting on August 1, 2026, your base period is April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. The calculator shows the base period for the date you enter. Wages from all your Maine employers count, and your employers report them each quarter, so the Department checks the requirement when you apply.

How many weeks and the waiting week

You can receive up to 12 weeks of family and medical leave in total in a benefit year. Family leave covers bonding with a new child in the first 12 months after birth or placement, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, military family needs and safe leave. Leave you took under the federal FMLA or Maine family medical leave in the 12 months before your paid leave starts counts against the 12 weeks.

Medical leave for your own serious health condition is not paid for the first 7 calendar days. You serve that waiting period only once per benefit year, and family leave has none. The Department's example: take 4 weeks of medical leave and the first week is unpaid while the other 3 are paid. In the default example, 12 weeks of medical leave pay 11 weeks, $8,921.00, against $9,732.00 for 12 weeks of family leave.

Intermittent and reduced-schedule leave

You do not have to take your leave all at once. Leave can be taken in increments of at least one scheduled workday, or in smaller pieces of at least one hour if you and your employer agree in writing. Payments are prorated by the hours of leave you use divided by the hours you are scheduled to work that week, and the 12 weeks are counted the same way. Working 20 of your usual 40 hours pays $405.50 a week in the default example, and your 12 weeks of leave then stretch over 24 calendar weeks.

Premiums, applying and payments

For 2025 through 2027 the premium is 1% of wages at employers with 15 or more employees, and your employer may deduct up to half of it, 0.5%, from your pay. Employers with fewer than 15 employees pay 0.5% of wages and may deduct all of it. Premiums apply to wages up to the Social Security wage base, $184,500 in 2026. On $52,000 of wages the most taken from your pay is $5.00 a week, $260.00 a year.

Tell your employer at least 30 days before your leave unless it is an emergency, then apply with Aflac, the program's administrator, online or by phone. You can apply as early as 60 days before your leave starts and no later than 90 days after. You have job protection if you have worked for your employer for at least 120 consecutive days. Benefits are paid once a week and are reduced dollar for dollar by unemployment insurance, most workers' compensation and government or long-term disability payments for the same time, but not by your employer's short-term disability plan or by paid time off used to make up the difference.

Taxes on Maine PFML benefits

The Department says family leave benefits are taxable income but not wages, much like unemployment benefits, and you can ask for state and federal income tax withholding. Medical leave benefits are taxed in proportion to the premiums your employer paid; for tax year 2026 the program reports the taxable part on Form 1099-G. The IRS explains the rules in Revenue Ruling 2025-4, so check with a tax professional. For your regular pay see the Maine salary calculator and the Maine salary after taxes guide. If you cross a state line for work, the work in Massachusetts, live in Maine and work in Maine, live in New Hampshire guides cover taxes, and the Massachusetts PFML calculator shows the benefit in that state. Compare the Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington leave calculators, the maternity leave pay calculator and the disability benefits tax guide.