Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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New Hampshire program

Pay during family leave (NH Paid Family and Medical Leave)

New Hampshire offers paid leave insurance through participating employers or an individual policy.

What it is

New Hampshire offers paid leave insurance through participating employers or an individual policy.

Existing leave coverage is worth checking when work changes or may change. Your employer or insurer confirms the policy, when it began and which time off it covers. Coverage must be in place before qualifying leave; a new policy does not pay immediately.

Eligibility rules
  • Employers outside state government choose whether to sponsor coverage. Eligible employees without equivalent employer coverage may have an individual-policy option; that is not a general option for independent contractors, gig workers or unemployed people. The insurer must check eligibility and when coverage began.
  • An individual policy has a seven-month waiting period and a one-week elimination period.
What you get
  • A share of wages for six or twelve weeks under the employer’s coverage.
  • Capped at about $2,129 a week in 2026.
  • State employees receive 60% of average weekly wages for up to six weeks a year.
What the protection includes
  • Employer policies have a seven-day wait before payments begin. Your employer and carrier can confirm the policy’s benefit amount and duration.
  • An individual policy has a premium.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask your employer whether it sponsors the plan, how many employees it has and for the policy documents.
  2. If you decide to claim, ask the social worker to help with the medical section for the insurer.

Your employer’s benefits office and paid-leave insurer · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The carrier asks for a claim up to 30 days before planned leave, or within 20 days for unforeseeable leave.
  • The insurer decides the claim. An approved claim leads to payments after the applicable waiting period.
Good to know

A qualifying employer policy can also protect your job and health coverage at employers with at least 50 employees. An individual policy alone does not establish that protection; FMLA has separate rules.

Other details
  • The employer can require this leave to run alongside other leave. FMLA eligibility is a separate question.
  • NH Paid Family and Medical Leave is voluntary insurance. Employer policies can provide 6 or 12 weeks; the individual option provides 6 weeks and has a 7-month qualifying wait. Benefits replace 60% of covered wages, up to $2,128.85 a week in 2026, after the applicable one-time 7-calendar-day benefit waiting period. MetLife asks for foreseeable claims up to 30 days before leave, or unexpected claims within 20 days after leave starts; the certificate and claim instructions control your case. Coverage must already be in place for the leave to qualify. Employer pay and FMLA may run with the same absence; payroll and the insurer must explain the coordination.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Does our employer offer this leave insurance, and what would it pay while I care for my child? Could you help us check the costs, waiting period and job protection?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand what could replace pay during care and whether the job is protected.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Get the employer's answer in writing, then file the claim before the leave starts.

Your social worker

The social worker helps with the medical part of the claim form.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
The insurer decides the claim; the employer decides whether the plan exists at all.
Ask HR
“Does the company sponsor the New Hampshire paid family leave plan, and how many employees does it have? Please put both answers in writing.”

How to apply

First step: Ask the employer in writing whether it sponsors the plan and how many people it employs.

  1. Ask the employer in writing whether it sponsors the plan and how many people it employs.
  2. If it does, file the claim up to 30 days before a planned leave.
  3. Ask whether the leave runs alongside federal leave or on top of it.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the employer in writing whether it sponsors the plan and how many employees it has, then file the claim with the carrier.

What to gather

  • The employer's written answer
  • The plan documents if it exists
  • The doctor's note for the claim

How long: File up to 30 days before a planned leave, or within 20 days if it could not be foreseen.

What a yes looks like

A claim approved and weekly payments after the seven-day wait.

What a no looks like, and the next move

The employer does not sponsor the plan. Ask about federal leave and about unemployment before resigning.

Watch out

  • It is voluntary: most employers have not bought it.
  • Job protection needs both 50 or more employees and a sponsored policy.
  • There is a seven-day wait before benefits start, and seven months before an individual policy can be claimed on.

If they say no, quote this: Job restoration: RSA 275:37-d. Voluntary participation: RSA 21-I:104.

Dates that change this

2026-01-01: The weekly maximum, the six or twelve week options and the seven-day wait come from the insurer's own page, not a state publication, and the state's own plan site was unreachable. Confirm them with the employer or the carrier. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Where the employer bought it, a share of wages for six or twelve weeks, up to $2,128.85 a week in 2026, after a seven-day wait.

  • $2,128.85/week — Maximum weekly benefit published for 2026
  • $60/week — Wage replacement for state employees
  • $6 — Maximum weeks a year for state employees
  • $7 — Days of waiting before benefits start on an employer plan
  • $7 — Months of waiting before an individual policy can be claimed on
  • $50 — Employees an employer must have before job restoration applies

Legal protection: Job restoration where the employer has 50 or more employees and sponsors the insurance · The employer can require the leave to run alongside other leave rather than on top of it

What it costs the family: The premium, where an individual policy is bought.

The eligibility facts, as published

Employers
voluntary for employers other than the state
Job restoration
only where the employer has 50 or more employees and sponsors the insurance
State employees
60 percent of average weekly wage, up to six weeks a year
Individual
seven-month waiting period and a one-week elimination period
Filing
the carrier asks for a claim up to 30 days before a planned leave, or within 20 days where it could not be foreseen

The trap: Job protection is not automatic. It comes only where the employer has 50 or more employees and sponsors the insurance. The carrier's own summary says there is no job protection; the statute is narrower and more specific, and it is the statute that controls. Ask the employer for both answers in writing.

Where I read this

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