Does New Hampshire require paid family or sick leave in 2026?
No. New Hampshire mandates no state paid family leave and no state paid sick leave. Instead it runs the country's first voluntary opt-in plan, paying 60% of wages for up to 6 weeks. Federal FMLA gives 12 weeks unpaid at employers with 50 or more employees.
· New Hampshire, United States guide
Illustration · Portsmouth, New Hampshire
New Hampshire mandates no paid family leave and no paid sick leave. There is no required state programme, no payroll withholding line, and no claim portal you must file against. The only job-protected floor for most employers is federal FMLA, and it reaches only employers with 50 or more employees.
What makes New Hampshire different is what it offers instead of a mandate. The state runs the country's first voluntary opt-in paid-family-leave plan, paying 60% of wages for up to 6 weeks, which an employer may buy with a 50% business tax credit and an individual may purchase directly. One narrow state law also gives 25 hours of unpaid childbirth-appointment leave at 20-employee firms. Everything paid beyond that is the policy you write.
Does New Hampshire require paid family leave?
No. New Hampshire has no mandatory state paid family leave programme, so there is no contribution line on a New Hampshire payslip and no benefit claim filed with the state.
Instead the state runs the country's first voluntary opt-in plan, the Granite State Paid Family Leave Plan. It pays 60% of average weekly wages for up to 6 weeks, and nobody is required to join.
The Granite State Paid Family Leave Plan is the distinctive piece of the New Hampshire picture, and it is the opposite of the coastal model. Launched on 1 January 2023, it is a state-procured insurance plan administered by MetLife, not a payroll tax. There is no mandatory contribution and no automatic deduction. You choose to buy a group plan for your staff; if you do, the NH Department of Revenue Administration offers a Business Enterprise Tax credit worth 50% of the premium paid under RSA 77-E:3-e, provided you don't pass the full cost to staff. A worker whose employer declines can buy personal coverage directly for a weekly premium, after a sign-up window and a waiting period.
Paid family leave in New Hampshire is therefore a benefit you elect and a carrier prices, not a statutory withholding line. Employer-sponsored plans may run 6 or 12 weeks; individual coverage is capped at 6. For a hire below the federal FMLA threshold, the wage-replacement piece is either a voluntary opt-in line you buy or paid parental leave you write into the offer. That makes it a competitive decision, not a compliance one. Compare how neighbouring Vermont runs a mandatory payroll-funded plan to see the contrast clearly.
Does New Hampshire require paid sick leave?
No. New Hampshire has no state paid sick leave law, and no New Hampshire city has enacted a local paid-sick-leave ordinance.
Paid sick days at a New Hampshire job are whatever the offer letter says. There is no accrual rate to track, no carry-over cap, and no city-by-city map to maintain.
The result is a clean, statewide answer: a single national sick-leave policy applies the same way in Manchester, Nashua, Concord and every rural county. Nothing in New Hampshire Department of Labor rules sets a minimum number of paid sick days, and the voluntary Granite State plan covers family and medical leave, not routine sick days, so it does not change that.
The real risk here is competitive, not legal. A remote-first employer offering eight to ten paid sick days inside a single PTO bank reads very differently to a candidate than a silent offer letter. In a state that mandates nothing, the policy is the differentiator, and it is the line a New Hampshire hire will compare against an offer from a neighbouring state that does set a floor. See how Massachusetts requires earned sick time for the contrast that candidate may be making.
What does federal FMLA give New Hampshire employees?
Federal FMLA gives eligible New Hampshire employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per 12-month period, with group health coverage continued at the employer's normal contribution.
It applies only to employers with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. The employee qualifies after 12 months of tenure and 1,250 hours worked in the prior year.
Cross the 50-employee line across your whole US payroll and federal FMLA binds you: 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per 12-month period for a qualifying New Hampshire employee. Because the state's own paid plan is voluntary and its one mandatory carve-out is narrow, FMLA is the only leave statute that reaches a typical New Hampshire employer. Count headcount across every US state, not just New Hampshire staff, or you'll hit the threshold without knowing.
Source: US Department of Labor, Family and Medical Leave Act
Thirty New Hampshire staff and 25 staff in another state crosses the 50-employee line even though neither state alone reaches it. Once tripped, the obligation runs for the rest of the current calendar year and the full following year, even if headcount later falls back. That headcount math is one more reason to track your full US hiring footprint in one place.
| FMLA element | Federal rule |
|---|---|
| Employer threshold | 50+ employees within 75 miles, 20+ weeks in the current or prior year |
| Employee eligibility | 12 months employed and 1,250 hours worked in the prior 12 months |
| Standard leave | 12 weeks unpaid, job protected, per 12-month period |
| Military caregiver leave | 26 weeks in a single 12-month period |
| Pay during leave | None; FMLA is unpaid by statute |
FMLA gives no wage replacement of its own. Below 50 employees, or for a worker in their first 12 months, there is no FMLA right and no New Hampshire mini-FMLA to fall back on. The voluntary Granite State plan is the one route to paid time off when FMLA does not apply.
What pregnancy and disability protections apply in New Hampshire?
Federal law applies and New Hampshire adds one narrow appointment-leave carve-out on top. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires reasonable accommodation for pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions at any employer with 15 or more employees.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act apply at the same 15-employee threshold, and the PUMP Act gives nursing employees break time and a private space at almost every employer.
New Hampshire's own contribution is a 2026 law that is real but narrow. Under RSA 275:37-f, effective 1 January 2026, an employer with 20 or more employees must give up to 25 hours of unpaid, job-protected leave for the employee's own childbirth and postpartum appointments or the child's pediatric appointments in the first year after birth or adoption. If both parents work for the same employer they share the 25 hours rather than each receiving them. The EEOC's PWFA guidance covers the broader accommodation frame that sits above this narrow appointment-leave floor.
Between 15 and 50 employees there is still a real gap for the birth itself. PWFA covers accommodation, such as modified duties, schedule changes and lactation breaks, and the new appointment-leave law covers a handful of hours, but no statute gives a New Hampshire worker a 12-week job hold for the birth until FMLA applies. That gap is the decision your offer letter has to make explicit, and the most retention-critical voluntary line is paid parental leave, whether you write it directly or buy the Granite State plan to fund it. The termination rules that apply if you dismiss someone on leave are a separate exposure covered under New Hampshire termination law.
New Hampshire employers under 50, military leave and jury duty
Below 50 employees New Hampshire imposes no mandatory leave law, with narrow exceptions that apply at smaller sizes: the 25-hour appointment-leave carve-out at 20 employees, PWFA accommodation at 15 employees, USERRA reemployment for service members, and jury-duty protection.
USERRA protects a service member's civilian job for up to five years of cumulative service and reinstates them on the escalator principle. New Hampshire law bars firing or penalising an employee for answering a jury summons.
USERRA reinstates a returning service member to the position they would have reached had they not been called up, not simply the job they left. Health-plan continuation runs alongside, and the protection applies regardless of company size. Dismissing a returning service member or retaliating against a juror is also an at-will exception under New Hampshire termination law, so the exposure is not limited to these leave statutes alone.
For most small New Hampshire employers this is the entire mandatory picture: give childbirth-appointment leave at 20 employees, accommodate pregnancy at 15 employees, reinstate service members, and protect jury service. Everything beyond that, including the 26-week military caregiver entitlement that arrives with FMLA at 50 employees, is either a federal trigger you grow into or a voluntary benefit you choose. The Granite State plan sits ready as the opt-in route to funded paid leave whenever you decide to offer it. Use the Employer Cost Calculator to see how a group plan premium affects your total New Hampshire employment cost.
How Teamed runs New Hampshire leave end to end
Teamed becomes your legal employer of record in New Hampshire for from $599 per employee per month flat, with zero FX mark-up. You design the leave package; we administer it and track every federal trigger and every New Hampshire rule for you.
FMLA eligibility, the 50-employee threshold measured across your whole US payroll, the 25-hour childbirth-appointment leave, PWFA accommodation logging, USERRA reinstatement and jury-duty pay continuation all run on one platform.
Real HR and legal experts handle your New Hampshire hires and know the FMLA, PWFA and USERRA stack by heart, plus the new RSA 275:37-f appointment leave and how the voluntary Granite State plan fits a benefits package. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. There is no setup fee and no exit fee, and statutory employer cost (FICA, FUTA, SUTA, workers' compensation) passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice.
Contractor onboarding, EOR payroll and entity graduation all live on one platform. A New Hampshire contractor who converts to W-2 keeps their record, and that same employee can graduate to your own US entity without switching systems. Use the Crossover Calculator to see the month the model flips. The state tax and unemployment insurance picture and the wage and overtime rules for New Hampshire also run on the same platform. EOR is the right model for a first New Hampshire hire, until it isn't.
New Hampshire is the opt-in state. There is no mandatory paid family leave and no paid sick leave to withhold, and federal FMLA only bites at 50 employees, so the work is policy design, not compliance. But the state built the country's first voluntary plan, paying 60 percent for up to six weeks, and a narrow 2026 law adds 25 hours of unpaid childbirth-appointment leave at 20-employee firms. A New Hampshire hire is weighing your offer against an optional state benefit they could buy themselves, so the package you write is what decides whether they need to.
New Hampshire writes no leave mandate. It built the country's first voluntary plan instead, 60 percent of pay for up to six weeks.
Federal FMLA still starts at 50 employees and stops at unpaid. One narrow 2026 law adds 25 hours of childbirth-appointment leave.
Here the offer letter is the leave policy, and the opt-in plan is the lever you choose to pull.
