Voya Financial has released new research arguing that as more states adopt paid family and medical leave (PFML) programs, employers still have a critical role to play in protecting workers' income during leave, since state programs on their own may not be enough to meet employees' financial needs.
The white paper, titled "Protecting the disability continuum: why Short-Term Disability coverage is essential in a Paid Family & Medical Leave World," contended that while state-based and government-provided benefits represent meaningful progress, they carry caps and eligibility limits that can leave workers financially exposed at the moments they most need stability.
Voya's analysis lands against a fast-moving state policy backdrop. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia now have mandatory paid family and medical leave programs in place or coming online, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.
Wage replacement rates and program design vary by state, with benefits typically capped at a percentage of a worker's wages, subject to a maximum weekly amount, and available only to employees meeting earnings or tenure thresholds.
Several additional states offer voluntary frameworks allowing employers to buy private paid-leave insurance rather than participate in a state-run fund.
That patchwork leaves considerable variation in worker protection depending on location and employer size. Separate research from LIMRA has found that only around 40% of private-sector workers have access to employer-sponsored short-term disability coverage, and that just 55% of employees can say with confidence whether their employer offers disability insurance at all.
Voya's paper argued employers are well placed to close that gap, both by offering supplemental disability income insurance and by building a more integrated, supportive claims and leave experience for workers.
Maleiha Russell, VP, Life, Disability and Supplemental Health, Voya Financial, said: "Government programs are an important foundation, but they were never designed to fully replace income or address the broader financial realities employees may face. Employers have a powerful opportunity—and responsibility—to build on that foundation with solutions that offer impactful benefits, simplify the claims experience and ultimately help employees stay focused on what matters most during critical life moments."
That view is consistent with broader industry research on the financial exposure workers face without adequate income protection. LIMRA's 2025 Insurance Barometer Study found that 51% of Americans say they would rely on personal savings if they became unable to earn an income due to illness or injury, while 26% said they would draw down retirement savings and one in five would turn to loans or credit cards.
Voya's research points to measurable returns for employers that invest in more comprehensive protection.
Based on a Voya Financial Consumer Insights & Research survey conducted with Morning Consult in April 2026, among 923 employees who had taken leave in the past two years, 62% said they trusted their employer more afterward, and 90% said they would be very or somewhat likely to recommend their employer's leave benefits to others.
Voya also linked stronger, integrated leave and disability benefits to smoother business continuity during employee absences and greater workforce resilience, as employees are better equipped to navigate life events with less financial disruption.
For carriers and brokers in the group benefits space, Voya's paper reinforces a theme that has been building as state PFML programs expand: statutory leave is increasingly the floor rather than the ceiling of income protection, not a substitute for supplemental disability coverage.
With LIMRA projecting continued, if moderate, growth in workplace disability sales and roughly six in 10 employers telling LIMRA their workers would be interested in short-term disability benefits, insurers positioning short-term disability as a complement to, rather than a competitor with, state paid leave programs may find a receptive market among employers looking to differentiate their benefits packages without taking on the administrative complexity of PFML compliance alone.
