Brianna Keefe-Oates is a postdoctoral research fellow at Northeastern University and is based in Portland. This column reflects her views and expertise and does not speak on behalf of the university. She is a member of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications.
In May of 2026, benefits will begin under Maine’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave law. These benefits will help families rest a little easier and ensure their economic security when they need to take time off for their own medical leave, to welcome a new child, or care for a loved one.
The rules for this law, which guide the implementation of the program, are currently in the making, with public comment on the current proposed rules, accepted through July 8. Ensuring that families can access their benefits promptly and efficiently under these rules is crucial to guaranteeing they have economic support during these life events.
This law will not only provide critical economic support but could also help improve health outcomes in the state. For example, for people who have recently given birth, this law will provide paid leave benefits for 12 weeks so they can stay home to recover from childbirth and bond with their babies while ensuring economic stability.
As someone who recently gave birth I can attest that having paid leave through my employer helped me recover and focus on my baby’s needs, rather than worry about going back to work quickly and maintaining my work schedule. I was able to go to my doctor’s appointments, see specialists, and focus on my baby, rather than trying to juggle my health, my child’s health, and my work at a very busy (and exhausting!) time.
As a researcher, I have also seen the benefits of paid leave for working parents: in a recent study, my co-authors and I found that parents who gave birth and had to take shorter leaves from their paid work had a 45 percent to 98 percent higher risk of missing their postpartum care visits, a crucial healthcare visit to monitor the person’s health and support a full recovery from childbirth. Other studies have found that these policies could improve breastfeeding patterns and maternal mental health, and decrease hospitalizations among postpartum people.
These policies don’t only impact parents; research has found that these policies also support infant health. One study of New York’s recent law found that hospitalizations of infants for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) decreased significantly after the law went into effect. Other studies have found paid parental leave leads to increased pediatric visit attendance and decreased hospitalizations.
Investing in families’ health is an important cause in itself, but these investments are also beneficial to our state as a whole. Studies have found that a paid leave law in California increased maternal labor force participation in the first years of their child’s life, while most businesses reported the policy positively impacted, or didn’t have any effect on, productivity or profitability, performance, turnover, and morale, with even more positive reports from smaller businesses.
A great many businesses may want to offer paid leave on their own to support and retain their employees, but doing so at the individual employer level can be a burden for small businesses. This means until now, the people who are most likely to have paid leave are those who work for larger companies and earn higher incomes. Maine’s law is designed so that people with lower incomes can receive a larger proportion of their pay than in many other states, helping ensure they can afford to take the time off they need, and return to work having been able to focus on their families first.
Maine now stands on the cusp of realizing these health and economic benefits for all working families. Ensuring the rules associated with this law provide prompt and efficient receipt of these benefits will be key to supporting working families and investing in the health and wellbeing of Maine. Anyone interested can review the current rules, review the Maine Paid Leave Coalition’s suggestions on the rules and guidance for submitting comments, and submit their own comments.
