Delaware, Minnesota and Maine launched programs this year as SPG buys leave specialist HCM Unlocked
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia now have mandatory paid family and medical leave (PFML) programs, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center tracker last updated in April. Three started paying benefits in 2026, and Virginia passed its own law in April. On September 24, 2026, Specialty Program Group (SPG) said it had acquired HCM Unlocked, a managed services firm that handles payroll, benefits administration, compliance and leave-of-absence management for employers dealing with that paid family leave patchwork.
What changed in paid family leave in 2026
Delaware and Minnesota started paying benefits on January 1, 2026. Most Delaware employers with 10 or more employees must participate. In Minnesota, employers designate an administrator through the state's Paid Leave program portal and use it to review employee applications and tax details. Colorado also expanded its Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program on January 1, giving parents of babies in neonatal intensive care up to 12 additional weeks of paid leave.
Maine followed on May 1, 2026. Its program covers any private employer with at least one employee in the state. Maryland has pushed back the start of its program.
Virginia approved a PFML program on April 22, 2026, the first Southern state to do so. Contributions start April 1, 2028, and benefits begin December 1, 2028. The law was one of several workplace bills passed in the same session, as HRD reported when Virginia rewrote its labor laws on paid leave, wages and pay transparency.
States with existing programs keep amending them. A bill introduced in Delaware on June 30, 2026, would drop the 12-month tenure requirement for benefit eligibility and leave only an hours test. It is still in committee, according to HRD's report on the Delaware paid leave bill, though employers there would need to change how they screen new hires if it passes.
Why multi-state employers carry the heaviest load
Each state sets its own employer size thresholds, funding formulas, job protections and notice rules, and amends them on its own schedule. An employer with staff in five PFML states has five sets of rules to follow, frequently through payroll and HR systems that weren't built with any of them in mind.
Companies that added employees in Delaware or Minnesota in 2025 may not have updated their leave administration since. Maine goes further, since a single remote hire in the state is enough to bring an employer under its program.
There's a retention question as well. HRD has reported that US employers risk losing talent when they fall short on paid caregiving leave expectations, and more generous state programs make those comparisons easier for employees to draw.
What SPG is buying
HCM Unlocked was founded in 2018 and is led by CEO John Wallace of [city, state]. It advises mid-market and enterprise clients on selecting and implementing HR technology and manages those systems afterward. Its DELTA platform uses artificial intelligence to check data accuracy across payroll, time and attendance, HR and benefits systems, and works across multiple software vendors instead of requiring one suite.
Many mid-market employers bought their HR software piecemeal over the years. At those companies leave data is often split between a payroll provider, an HR information system and a benefits platform, and a contribution rate entered incorrectly in one can cause errors in the others.
Roughly 200 HCM Unlocked employees will move to SPG, and the company will keep its name. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Wallace said HCM Unlocked was set up to handle payroll, HR, benefits, compliance and technology together rather than as separate problems, and that SPG would give it more resources to serve existing clients.
Chris Treanor, president and CEO of SPG in [city, state], said HCM Unlocked was built around the problems its clients actually face. He said specialized expertise, technology and data are increasingly shaping employee benefits and workforce services. SPG's businesses include underwriting management, digital solutions, wholesale and specialty retail brokerage, and insurance services.
