Hundreds of thousands of private-sector workers in D.C. will be eligible for expanded paid leave benefits starting on Oct. 1.

Because of a surplus in the city-run program that was discovered earlier this year, the amount of leave offered to many workers in D.C.-based private businesses and companies is increasing to 12 weeks per year to care for a newborn child, attend to a sick family member, or deal with personal medical situations.

Up until this point, workers had up to eight weeks of paid parental leave, six weeks for family medical leave, and six weeks for personal medical leave. The program also offered two weeks of pre-natal leave, which will remain the same.

The program launched in July 2020, some four years after it was passed into law by the D.C. Council. It’s funded by a payroll tax on employers, and offers benefits of up to $1,000 a week in wage replacement during leave. Because of the surplus, the per-employee tax paid by employers was decreased over the summer from 0.62% to 0.26%.

The council is also working to finalize a bill that would offer D.C. government workers similar amounts of leave; they currently get up to eight weeks for caregiver or parental leave.

Eleven states and D.C. offer workers paid family and medical leave in one form or another. President Joe Biden included a paid leave provision in his Build Back Better legislative proposal, but it was taken out as the measure was stripped down to secure passage in the Senate. The United States is one of a handful of countries that does not offer paid family leave at the federal level at all.