What is Hawaii’s Family Leave Law (HFLL)?

Hawaii’s Family Leave Law (HFLL) provides eligible employees with up to four weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave per year for family caregiving, childbirth, or adoption.
 

HFLL differs from the federal FMLA in eligibility thresholds and covered family members, including siblings and reciprocal beneficiaries.

What is Hawaii’s Family Leave Law (HFLL)?

The Hawaii Family Leave Law (HFLL) is a state law that provides job-protected, unpaid leave to eligible employees for specific family-related reasons, including the birth or adoption of a child and caregiving for certain family members with serious health conditions.

While HFLL currently provides unpaid leave, Hawaii lawmakers are advancing proposals in 2025 to introduce a paid family leave program that would build on the existing framework.

What does Hawaii’s Family Leave Law (HFLL) cover? 

HFLL provides up to four weeks of leave per calendar year, regardless of how many qualifying events occur. The entitlement is annual, not per qualifying reason.

Leave type: Birth of a child
Description: Leave to care for a newborn child
Maximum leave: Up to 4 weeks

Leave type: Adoption of a child
Description: Leave related to the adoption of a child
Maximum leave: Up to 4 weeks

Leave type: Care for a family member
Description: Care for a child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, sibling, or parent with a serious health condition
Maximum leave: Up to 4 weeks

Eligibility and applicability

Employees must have worked for their employer for at least six consecutive months.

Job protection under HFLL

HFLL provides job-protected leave, meaning employees are entitled to return to their same position or an equivalent role with equivalent pay, benefits, and working conditions after their leave ends.

How to apply for HFLL leave?

Employees must provide at least 30 days’ notice when the need for leave is foreseeable or as soon as practicable when the leave is unforeseeable.

Employers may require medical certification or supporting documentation. 

This may include the date the condition began, its expected duration, and relevant medical facts supporting the need for leave.

How does HFLL interact with FMLA?

HFLL and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) both provide job-protected leave, but they differ in eligibility rules and coverage.

Concurrent leave
When an employee is eligible for both laws, HFLL leave generally runs concurrently with FMLA leave. 

Four weeks of HFLL leave taken for a qualifying reason will count toward the employee’s 12-week FMLA entitlement.

Different covered family members
HFLL allows leave to care for siblings and reciprocal beneficiaries, who are not covered family members under FMLA.

Interaction with other leave entitlements
If an employee exhausts their FMLA entitlement, they may still be eligible for HFLL leave as long as they have not already used their four-week HFLL entitlement for the year.