New legislation goes into effect on January 1, 2025 eliminating employers’ ability to require employees to use accrued vacation leave before accessing California’s Paid Family Leave Program. You can read more about this change here from Jackson Lewis attorney Angela S. Rho.

California Governor Newsom recently signed a bill impacting employers’ obligations when it comes to providing time off for jury duty, court attendance and for employees who are victims of certain crimes along with their family members. Jackson Lewis attorney Sayaka Karitani explains these developments here.

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave has announced changes to the employer contribution rates and benefit amounts under the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) effective January 1, 2025.

Each October 1st, the Department of Family and Medical Leave is required to update employer contribution rates and benefit amounts for the upcoming year. The change in benefit amounts is based on the average weekly wage in the Commonwealth and the change in contribution rates is to be made to ensure the Fund’s solvency for paying out benefits.

Following are the announced changes to the PFMLA:

1. The benefit contribution rate for employers remains .88% of eligible wages.  The Department did not change the benefit contribution rate for 2025.  The benefit contribution rate will remain .88% of eligible wages (which are wages up to the social security contribution limit).

The specific benefit contribution rates are as follows:

  1. For employers with 25 or more covered individuals, for the family leave contribution, the employer can withhold .18% of eligible wages. As for the medical leave contribution, the employer can withhold .28% of eligible wages and is responsible for paying .42% of eligible wages directly.
  2. For employers with 24 or fewer covered individuals, for the family leave contribution, the employer can withhold .18% of eligible wages. As for the medical leave contribution, the employer can withhold .28% of eligible wages. For these smaller employers, the employer has no obligation to pay the employer share for medical leave.

These new contribution rates apply equally to employers that have private plans, so all employers must review their plans and contribution rates to ensure continued compliance for January 1, 2025.  Since there is no change in contribution rates, there is no requirement to notify current employees of the change (but employers may wish to do so, if employers have a practice of doing so on an annual basis)

2. The maximum weekly benefit amount will be $1,170.64 per week.

The Department increased the maximum weekly benefit amount available to individuals to $1,170.64. This benefit is keyed off the Commonwealth’s average weekly wage and is an increase from the current amount, which is $1,149.90 a week.

For additional guidance, please contact a Jackson Lewis attorney.

Jackson Lewis attorneys Monica Bullock and Briana Antuna provide an insightful analysis of Senate Bill 1105, which expands paid sick leave for agricultural employees to include emergencies like smoke, heat, or flooding. This change takes effect on January 1, 2025. Read their take on this important legislative update here.

The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) announced revised proposed rulemaking for the Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. This comes on the heels of the first draft of proposed rules issued on May 20, 2024.

Public comment is open through Sept. 30, 2024. Comments can be submitted here.

Maine DOL’s rulemaking follows the Maine Legislature’s passage of the new law in 2023. Employees can begin receiving paid leave benefits effective on May 1, 2026, and employer contributions to the plan funding those benefits begins on Jan. 1, 2025.

The proposed rules provide greater detail as to how the DOL plans to implement and enforce the new program. Although they are substantially similar to the initial proposal, the revised rules contain a number of relatively minor changes and reorganizations and seven significant changes:

  1. Bona fide volunteers will be excluded from the program’s coverage.
  2. Federal employees will be excluded from coverage.
  3. Previous drafts limited who is a covered employee based on a threshold wage amount earned in prior quarters. Under the latest draft, all Maine employees are covered employees. However, to receive benefits, employees must have earned wages in Maine at least six times the state average weekly wage during the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual’s benefit year.
  4. The previous draft placed the burden on employers to prove an undue hardship. The latest revision allows employers to “reasonably determine that scheduling of leave creates an undue hardship.”
  5. If an employee seeks medical leave and the employee’s medical provider rejects the employer’s proposed schedule, then the employer requirement to prove undue hardship does not apply.
  6. All covered employers will be required to use online registration.
  7. Acceptance of applications for substitute private plans will begin on April 1, 2025. This allows employers to apply well before the prior opening date of Jan. 1, 2026.

As the DOL continues its process of finalizing rules to implement the program, please contact a Jackson Lewis attorney with any questions.

In one of the first decisions interpreting the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA), the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that the PFMLA does not require an employer to allow employees to accrue benefits, such as vacation time and sick time, during PFMLA leave. Bodge, et al. v. Commonwealth, et al., SJC-13567, slip op. (Sept. 13, 2024).

In this case, a group of state troopers sued the State Police, claiming the State Police’s policy of not providing for accrual of employee benefits, including vacation time and sick time, while the employees were on PFMLA leave violated the PFMLA. The SJC held that the State Police’s policy of not providing for accrual during the leave did not violate the PFMLA.

The SJC noted the PFMLA states, “An employee who has taken family or medical leave shall be restored to the employee’s previous position or to an equivalent position, with the same status, pay, employment benefits, length-of-service credit and seniority as of the date of leave.” The SJC held that this part of the statute simply required that an employee’s benefits remain unchanged, not increased or decreased, from when they begin leave to when they return from leave. Thus, an employee returning from PFMLA leave can continue to accrue benefits as if the employee never took the leave, but the employee does not have the right to continue accruing benefits during the leave.

Employers should review their policies and practices with counsel to ensure compliance with the PFMLA.

As kids head back to school, California employees with children may need time off for various reasons from school-related activities to kids who are sick. Here are reminders of the California leave entitlements for parents and caregivers.

Learn more here.

Michigan employers soon will face a significantly higher minimum wage and more onerous employee sick leave obligations after the Michigan Supreme Court invalidated the Michigan legislature’s amendments related to two voter ballot initiatives. Mothering Justice v. Attorney General and State of Michigan, No. 165325 (July 31, 2024).

Learn more here.

The governor of Rhode Island has signed into law amendments to the Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) law that will increase the amount of leave benefits available to employees beginning Jan. 1, 2025.  

Currently, eligible employees in Rhode Island can take six weeks of leave under TCI to care for a newborn, or newly adopted child, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition. As of Jan. 1, 2025, employees will be entitled to seven weeks of leave, which will increase to eight weeks as of Jan. 1, 2026. 

Initially enacted in 2014, TCI provides partial wage replacement and job protection for eligible Rhode Island employees. The wage replacement benefits are fully funded by employee payroll deductions. The amendments continue to expand the length of leave available to employees under TCI after prior amendments in 2022 and 2023 gradually expanded TCI leave from four weeks to the current six weeks.

Rhode Island also increased the minimum dependent allowance from $10.00 per week to $20.00 per week effective Jan. 1, 2025. Employees with dependents are entitled to the greater of the minimum dependent allowance or 7% of their weekly benefit amount for each dependent.

In Rhode Island, employees receiving TCI while out on leave cannot continue to work and take leave on an intermittent basis, but they must remain out on leave for the entire duration of the leave period to collect benefits.

Employees seeking to take leave must notify their employers in writing at least 30 days prior to the start of the leave, barring unforeseen circumstances. Employers may receive requests for information from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training regarding employees who have applied for leave, but all other information regarding the leave is confidential.

Employees returning from TCI leave are entitled to return to a comparable position with the equivalent seniority, status, employment benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions, including fringe benefits.

Jackson Lewis attorneys continually monitor paid leave developments in Rhode Island and around the country. If you have questions regarding leave law compliance, contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

Under the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance, most employers in Cook County, Illinois, must provide their employees in the county up to 40 hours of paid leave that can be used for any reason. The Cook County Commission on Human Rights issued Final Interpretive and Procedural Rules governing the Ordinance that provide employers much-needed clarification, including on who the Ordinance applies to and whether it overlaps with other state and local leave entitlements, how to calculate paid leave under the Ordinance, whether carryover of accrued, unused paid leave may be capped, and when employers may lawfully deny paid leave requests. The Final Rules also contain other extensive requirements, and employers are encouraged to consult counsel for assistance in updating their written leave policies to comply with the Final Rules.

Learn more here.