What benefits can servers get in Delaware?
DelawareVerified September 23, 2026
The short answer
Delaware Paid Leave, if you’ve put in the hours. Since January 2026 the program pays up to 80% of your wages, capped at $900 a week, for up to 12 weeks with a new child or 6 weeks for your own or a relative’s serious illness. Tips count as wages. You need a year and 1,250 hours with one employer, and part-timers can be waived out. Delaware also has its own EITC.
The rule in Delaware
| Delaware Paid Leave | Up to 12 weeks a year to care for a new child; up to six weeks every 24 months for your own serious health condition, a family member’s, or a military deployment; 12 weeks combined at most. File through the LaborFirst claimant portal. |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | At least 12 months with your employer and 1,250 hours in the last 12 months (about 25 a week), working at least 60% of your time in Delaware. |
| Benefit and cost | Up to 80% of wages, up to $900 a week. Full coverage costs 0.8% of wages, and your employer may take up to half from your pay. |
| Tips count | Delaware Paid Leave uses FICA wages, which include tips, bonuses, and commissions. |
| Employer size | Employers with 25 or more employees must cover all leave types; 10 to 24 only parental leave. |
| Part-time waiver | If you work part-time or fewer than 12 months a year, your employer can file a waiver to exclude you, for example if you work under 25 hours a week. |
| Delaware EITC | Either a refundable credit of 4.5% of your federal EITC or a nonrefundable 20%, figured on Schedule II (PIT-RSS) with the resident return. |
“FICA wages include tips, bonuses, and commissions, but it excludes the wages earned by certain categories of immigrant visa holders.” (Delaware Department of Labor: Employers and TPAs guide to Delaware Paid Leave)
What’s different in Delaware
Delaware counts your tips, which matters when your cash wage is low: the benefit is built on FICA wages, so the tips you report raise it. The first payments went out in early February 2026.
The hurdle is hours. Delaware copies the federal FMLA test of a year on the job and 1,250 hours, and an employer can waive out staff who work weekend shifts or under 25 hours a week. A part-time server should ask whether a waiver was filed. The marketplace runs on HealthCare.gov here. Plus the federal programs.
Official sources
- Delaware Department of Labor: Delaware Paid Leave
- Delaware Department of Labor: Paid Leave employee information
- Delaware Department of Labor: Employers and TPAs guide to Delaware Paid Leave
- Delaware Department of Labor: Paid Leave launch (Feb. 9, 2026)
- Delaware Division of Revenue: 2025 resident income tax instructions
- Delaware Code Title 30 § 1117: earned income tax credit
- Delaware Department of Insurance: 2027 marketplace rates (Sept. 4, 2026)
Last verified
. Checked the agency pages linked above.
Still open: We didn’t find a Delaware state paid sick leave law on the pages we read. EITC percentages are from the tax year 2025 instructions.