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Although the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) has been in effect for over a year, with employers withholding contributions since October 1, 2019, benefits will become available for the first time beginning in 2021.
Here’s what both employees and employers in Massachusetts need to know about the new paid family and medical leave.
Most benefits under the PFMLA will become available on January 1, 2021. Covered individuals (most employees who receive a W-2 and certain contractors who receive a 1099-MISC) can receive a maximum weekly benefit of up to $850, determined by the individual’s average weekly earnings, for up to 26 total weeks of paid leave in a benefit year. Covered individuals can begin applying for most paid family leave benefits beginning on January 1, 2021 including:
Beginning July 1, 2021, covered individuals may also begin taking up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
A business owner who pays him or herself through a W-2 is considered a covered individual of the business’s workforce under the PFMLA. Other self-employed individuals can choose to opt-in to PMFLA eligibility by paying both the employer- and employee-funded contributions to the state program.
Employers can still choose to provide their own private plan to substitute or supplement the state offerings. An employer whose private plan offers benefits which equal or exceed the benefits provided by the state may apply for an exemption from collecting, remitting, and paying contributions under the PFMLA. An employer may continue to offer an existing insurance benefit such as a short term disability policy which provides fewer benefits than the state benefits as a supplement to state benefits but must collect, remit, and pay the employer contributions under the PFMLA. If a covered individual receives benefits from the employer’s supplemental benefit for one of the qualifying reasons under the PFMLA, the employer may receive a reimbursement for the employer’s contributions for that employee.
The PFMLA will not provide paid family leave benefits for employees to care for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 unlike the paid expanded family leave benefits provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. However, an employee who is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or caring for a family member who is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms may be eligible to take paid medical leave under the PFMLA due to a “serious health condition.”
An employer must not discriminate or retaliate against an employee for taking leave under the PFMLA. In general, paid leaves taken under the PFMLA are job protected and an employer must restore an employee to their previous position or to an equal position with the same status, pay, benefits, and seniority as of the date of the leave. However, an employer is not required to restore an employee if other similarly situated employees have been laid off during the period of leave due to “economic conditions or other changes in operating conditions affecting employment” or if the employee was hired for a specific term or project which has lapsed during the period of leave.
Our guest blogs are written and produced by organizations within our membership. They are not intended to reflect the views nor opinions of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Sherelle Wu is an attorney at Bowditch, practicing in the firm’s Labor & Employment group. Her background specializes in employment and higher education issues such as employment discrimination, employee classification, wage and hour, noncompetition, and Title IX. Before joining Bowditch, Sherelle was a law clerk at several large Boston area law firms and Northeastern University, as well as a legal intern for the Fair Labor Division at the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General.
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