Connecticut’s Paid Family Leave Program for Self-Employed Individuals

(last updated 08/23/22)
Is it Available?

Yes.

Who’s Eligible?
  • Sole Proprietor or Self-employed individual
  • Resident of CT who chooses to participate
  • Must have earned $2,325 in wages in the first 4 of the past 5 quarters
  • Must remain in the program for three years
Employee/Self-Employed Contribution

Sole Proprietors and self-employed individuals who enroll will contribute 0.5% of their self-employment income, as defined in 26 USC 1402(b) of the Internal Revenue Code up to 142,800 in earnings. Click here for the Employee Contribution Calculator.

Contribution Period

You must enroll for a minimum of three years.

Qualifying Life Events
  • To care for a family member with a serious health condition.
  • For parents to bond with a new child entering their life either by birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
  • To address certain military family needs.
  • For a worker’s own serious health condition.
  • To address certain medical and non- medical needs arising from domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault or abuse, also known as “safe leave” or “safe time”.
Wage Benefit

95% of a worker’s average weekly wage up to an amount equal to 40 times the state minimum wage and 60% of a worker’s average weekly wage above an amount equal to 40 times the state minimum wage.

Maximum benefit: 60 times the state minimum wage. When benefits begin in 2022, the maximum weekly benefit will be $780.

Length of Benefit

Up to 12 weeks in an application year.

Note: Workers with certain pregnancy-related health needs may receive up to an additional 2 weeks of benefits, which can be combined with other uses up to a total of 14 weeks.

Glossary of Terms:

Employee/Self-employed Contribution:

The amount that a self-employed individual must pay into the program in order to qualify for benefits. Depending on your state this contribution may be quarterly or annually.

Employee’s/Self-employed Average Weekly Wage (AWW):

The total amount an employee/self-employed person earned in a 52-week period divided by 52

  • Ex: If you make $40,000 annually, your average weekly wage is $769.23, which is $40,000 divided by 52.
  • If the contribution is .27% of an employee’s/self-employed person’s average weekly wage, if you made $40,000 annually, your contribution would be $108, which is $40,000 times .0027 (which is .27%).
Contribution Period:

The amount of time you need to pay into the program before you are eligible to apply for PFL benefits.

Qualifying Life Events:

The type of life events that allow you to apply for PFL benefits.

Wage Benefit:

Amount of benefit to be paid to employee/self-employed person during their PFL.

Length of Benefit:

Length of time covered under PFL.

Social Security contribution base:

This is a set of criteria by Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program that caps the amount of earnings each year that are eligible for your social security contributions. Some state’s Paid Family Leave insurance funds use this same threshold to cap contributions into their programs. This cap changes annually. For 2022 the base is $147,000.

Note: The contents of the directory last updated day of 2/15/22. We try our best to have the most up to date information possible, however please double check all information with your state. This directory is for educational purposes only.

get started! sign-up here for our

Free Guide: Roadmap to Financial Freedom

Thanks for subscribing! We just emailed you a welcome note.

There was an error with your subscription.