Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums to increase in 2025
The Employment Security Department recently announced that premium rates for the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave program will be changing next year.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2025:
- The premium rate will increase from 0.74% to 0.92%.
- Employers will pay 28.48% of the total premium and employees will pay 71.52%—a ratio similar to last year.
The Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave program is funded by premiums collected from employees and employers in Washington state. By law, the Employment Security Department recalculates the premium rate annually in October based on program usage and premiums collected the previous year.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, you will see the new contribution amounts in the Employee Taxes section of your pay advice. The deductions are shown in two parts –family coverage is “WA FLI/EE” and medical coverage is “WA MLI/EE.”
For more information, go to paidleave.wa.gov/updates or contact the Employment Security Department at 833-717-2273.
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Hear from employees and partners about how the King County Parks Levy enhances our region’s quality of life
Meet Marvin! For Parks employee Marvin Johnson, a day spent outside connecting with parks visitors is a good day. Quick with a smile and always happy to chat, he is one of the many people working hard to keep our county parks, trails and natural areas open and available to everyone.
Click the image below to hear from Marvin, other employees, and partners about how the King County Parks Levy enhances our region’s quality of life in our new video!
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King County Metro celebrates Pardeep Kaile, Employee of the Year in Link light rail
Crossposted from Metro Matters
Pardeep Kaile is a true triple threat: someone who has made her mark in transit as a bus operator, then in the Streetcar section and currently in Link light rail.
Kaile, a Rail Operation Supervisor, was named King County Metro’s Rail Employee of the Year in Link light rail on Wednesday. Metro supervisors, operators and maintenance staff operate light rail for Sound Transit. She was honored at a ceremony in which colleagues and leaders called her “a tremendous value to the agency,” “nimble and a great problem solver” and someone who “cares deeply about the humans she works with.”
As our region continues to expand, the need for reliable, efficient and sustainable public transportation becomes more critical than ever, and it would not be possible without the workers who keep it moving, transit colleagues said. Read more.
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After the storm – resources and services available, and survey to report damages
Crossposted from KC Emergency News
Food replacement (for DSHS Basic Food program recipients)
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has granted a waiver extending the 10-day reporting period for food loss due to the November 19 bomb cyclone. Residents in the following counties have until Dec. 19, 2024, to report food loss: King, Snohomish, Whatcom, Skagit, Kitsap, Island, Clallam, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Kittitas, Yakima, Douglas, Okanogan, Chelan, and Ferry.
Call 877-501-2233, visit a Community Services Office, fill out the Basic Food Affidavit Replacement for Household Disaster form, or provide a written attestation. Find the steps for requesting replacement benefits on their website here.
Storm damage repair permits (unincorporated King County)
King County recognizes the toll the recent storm took on many in the unincorporated areas, including those who suffered property damage. The Department of Local Services wants to help unincorporated King County residents whose properties were affected by quickly processing their damage repair permits. Read more.
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Take a pet home for the holidays!
Adapted from Tails from RASKC
Like many animal shelters across the nation, Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) is overwhelmed with dogs and cats. To help ease the shelter space crunch, RASKC is waiving adoption fees for dogs through the end of the year during the “Home for the Holidays” promotion.
“Our dog kennels have been consistently at or over capacity all year,” said interim RASKC manager Tim Anderson. “I can’t recall that happening in the last twelve years. So, by waiving adoption fees, we hope we can find a place for all the dogs that have been waiting patiently with us for their fur-ever family.”
Depending on where an adopter lives, a pet license fee may still apply. A King County pet license comes with many benefits, including Vacation Pet Alert, Free Ride Home and more.
See the full story in Tails from RASKC.
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Transit changes are coming to south King County: Metro wants your feedback on proposed route improvements
Crossposted from Metro Matters
As Link light rail extends south, King County Metro’s South Link Connections mobility project is working to improve public transportation for communities in south King County.
We invite you to learn more about these proposed changes and take our survey by February 28.
In response to what we heard from community members in Algona, Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, Normandy Park, Pacific, SeaTac, Tukwila, and parts of unincorporated King County, Metro is proposing several improvements to service and is seeking your input. Read more.
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“Read to Me” program allows incarcerated parents to read books to children through jail-library partnership
Crossposted from the DAJD newsletter
Every quarter, DAJD staff teams up with Seattle Public Library (SPL) to host a “Read to Me” workshop with people housed at King County Correctional Facility. Through this reoccurring program, residents attend three sessions with SPL’s librarians, ultimately resulting in a recorded story that is sent home to children, grandchildren, or other young relatives as a special keepsake.
“Our role as Children’s Services Librarians is to help parents and caregivers connect with their children through sharing stories and books, and to support parents as the most important teachers in their children’s lives,” said Seattle Public Librarian Lauren Mayer.
“This program is an extension of that philosophy, with the goal of reaching parents who are experiencing significant barriers to maintaining that positive and loving connection with their young children.” Read more.
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New, stronger batteries to boost King County Metro’s trolley bus fleet
Crossposted from Metro Matters
Electric trolleys are Metro’s original zero-emission fleet. Our 174 “trackless trolleys” are preparing to get a power boost that will increase their ability to travel farther off wire and prepare them for continued service to the region.
Kiepe Electric and Metro have reached a $26 million agreement for Kiepe to supply new, improved battery packs for our trolley fleet. Metro’s current fleet of 174 trolley buses went into service in 2015 through 2017. The fleet had off wire capabilities that were state of the art for the time, allowing buses to detour around incidents and construction for short distances. Read more.
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King County GIS Center wins national award
The King County GIS Center was honored to be awarded the 2024 URISA Exemplary Systems in Government: Single Process Distinguished System award for our new Aerial Imagery Program interactive web application. The GIS Center has been acquiring high-resolution aerial imagery since 1998 and administers a cost-sharing program to make imagery available to local jurisdictions, reducing the costs for everyone in the process.
Before the launch of this new application, managing each imagery order required manual coordination including multiple email chains, pdf documents, shapefiles, and spreadsheets. It was easy for things to get lost or steps to get missed, and jurisdictions were in the dark about the status of their orders. Now, the application provides a landing page with information about the program, the status of each biennial imagery acquisition, and cost-estimates that allow each jurisdiction to budget ahead. Read more.
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Reminder of Nondiscrimination, Anti-Harassment and Inappropriate Conduct Policy
King County is committed to a respectful, productive, inclusive, and equitable workplace, and the Nondiscrimination, Anti-Harassment and Inappropriate Conduct Policy for Executive Branch employees sets out our expectations in the workplace as well as the conduct and behaviors that will not be tolerated. It also outlines how to report incidents, all employees’ responsibilities, and the consequences of non-compliance.
If you haven’t read the policy or want to refamiliarize yourself with it, you can find it here. There is also our Harassment Prevention for Employees training, which explains the policy, roles and responsibilities, prohibited behaviors, and more. You can find your completed trainings in your KCeLearning NEOGOV Learn Dashboard by clicking on Training and then View Course Transcript. If you still need to complete the training you will find a direct link to the course under your Tasks.
For Metro employees, a Metro-specific version of the Harassment Prevention for Employees training called “The Way We Work Together” is available. Metro’s Leadership will share more information on this training with Metro staff.
Employee News 