So far, so good for Delaware Paid Leave’s program after its first month accepting claims.
The Delaware Department of Labor’s Division of Paid Leave started accepting claims for paid time off January 1.
Payments were released the first week of February to claimants.
Division of Paid Leave Director Chris Counihan says there were a lot of active claims from the program’s start.
"We have about almost 1300 claims that we consider to be active that were sent in in the 1st month, in the month of January,” said Counihan. “Most of those are either medical leave which again, is that short-term disability and that parental leave, which is a lot like paternity care."
Over 44% of those claims were for medical leave, allowing the employee time to address their own serious health conditions, and 42% were for parental leave allowing employees time off to welcome a new child through birth, adoption or foster placement.
Just over 13% was for family caregiver leave, allowing time off to care for a family member with a serious health condition and less than 1% sought time off to prepare for a family member’s overseas military deployment.
Counihan says a lot was accomplished this first month.
"We were able to go all the way from claims being submitted through the entire process with employees, employers and doctors playing their part, reviewing all the information to sure it's accurate here at the division, and then actually sending out payments. So we have completed an entire cycle," said Counihan.
He notes that 15% of claims either approved by an employer or ready for payment that were sent out.
He adds one-third of claims were denied, which is equally important - making sure leave is provided to those who qualify, while protecting the contribution of taxpayers’ money.
