Paid Family and Medical Leave

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By Andrea Hellrigel, Law Clerk

The Massachusetts Department of Family & Medical Leave (DFML) has announced the rates for the Massachusetts Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) program for 2025, which will take effect on January 1, 2025.

For employers with 25 or more employees, the overall maximum PFML contribution for 2025 will remain unchanged at 0.88% of eligible wages. This includes a Family Leave contribution of 0.18% and a Medical Leave contribution of 0.70%. Employers are required to cover a minimum of 60% of the Medical Leave contribution but can deduct up to 40% of this contribution from employees’ wages. Additionally, employers can deduct 100% of the Family Leave contribution from employees’ wages.Continue Reading 2025 Massachusetts Paid Family & Medical Leave Rate Increases

The highest state court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”), recently declared that the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (“PFMLA”), General Laws c. 175M, does not require an employer to guarantee the accrual of vacation and sick time during an employee’s PFMLA leave. Among other things, PFMLA gives eligible employees the right to take paid leave to bond with their child during the first year after the child’s birth, adoption, or placement in foster care.Continue Reading Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Finds that the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act Does Not Require an Employer Guarantee the Accrual of Vacation and Sick Time While the Employee is on Leave  

At the start of 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) released a new version of its Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) poster as well as a new employee notice form and updated rate sheet. Continue Reading Reminders for Massachusetts’ Employers Regarding Paid Family and Medical Leave

The Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) law now permits employees to “top off” benefits received through the state Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) with employer-provided accrued paid time off (e.g., vacation, PTO, or sick time).  This new change allows employees to elect whether to supplement their PFML benefits with paid time off.  Employers still cannot require employees to use their accrued paid leave either before or while on PFML; it is up to employees to elect whether or not to supplement their PFML benefits with paid time off.  This change was part of the recently passed fiscal year 2024 budget and is in effect for all new applications for PFML benefits as of November 1, 2023.Continue Reading Massachusetts Employees May Now Top Off Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits with Vacation, PTO, and Sick Time

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, Massachusetts extended the paid sick leave program until April 1, 2022. The reason for taking such leave have also been broadened. Irrespective of the number of full-time employees an employer may have, the paid sick leave mandate requires Massachusetts employers provide another 40 hours of paid time off in order to deal with several COVID-19 related issues.
Continue Reading Massachusetts Extends COVID-19 Emergency Sick Leave Into 2022

On New Year’s Day, eligible Massachusetts workers will be able to begin receiving paid family and medical leave from the Department of Family and Medical Leave.  Here’s what employers need to know now…

Who is eligible for benefits?

  • W-2 employees
  • Contractors who receive a 1099-MISC form from a business that issues 1099-MISC forms to more than 50% of its workforce
  • Former employees who have been unemployed for 26 weeks or fewer

Continue Reading Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Become Available January 1, 2021 – Here’s What Employers Need to Know

On September 5, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) issued new guidance on when employers must count 1099-MISC workers as part of their workforce for purposes of the Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) program. In its press release announcing the new guidance, the DFML stated that the guidance was issued after meetings with representatives from hundreds of businesses across Massachusetts during which the businesses consistently sought clarification on whether they are required to collect contributions from, and report on, 1099-MISC workers.
Continue Reading Massachusetts Clarifies When 1099-MISC Workers Should be Counted for Purposes of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act Program

A collective sigh of relief could be heard across the Commonwealth yesterday as anxious business owners, insurers, and employment lawyers heard the news that Massachusetts government leaders had agreed to a three-month delay of the implementation of the first-in-the-nation Paid Family and Medical Leave law.

With a July 1 deadline to begin making payroll deductions looming, many questions remained about the law.  Are the deductions pre-tax or post-tax?  (We still don’t know.)  Which employees and independent contractors are covered?  (It’s complicated.)  Should employers seek an exemption by adopting a private plan?  (Maybe?)  With the deadline now moved to October 1, legislators and employers have some much-needed breathing room to answer these and other questions about the law.Continue Reading Massachusetts Leaders Agree to Three-Month Delay of Paid Family and Medical Leave Law

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave has issued proposed regulations which are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2019.

Although some of the proposed regulations may change – and there is a push on by certain business groups to have the start date pushed to October – businesses are well advised to…