As of Nov. 21, 2024, Massachusetts employees may use earned sick time to address physical and mental health needs following a pregnancy loss or failed assisted reproduction, adoption, or surrogacy under an amendment to the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law.

Earned Sick Time Law

Originally passed by ballot measure in November 2014 and effective as of July 1, 2015, the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law requires employers to allow workers to accrue and use up to 40 hours of sick leave each calendar year. Employees must be allowed to accrue a minimum of one hour of earned sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employers with 11 or more employees must provide paid sick time. Employers with fewer than 11 employees must provide earned sick time, but it does not need to be paid.

The pre-amendment statute requires employers to allow employees to use accrued time off to:

  1. care for the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse, who is suffering from a physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition that requires home care, professional medical diagnosis or care, or preventative medical care; or
  2. care for the employee’s own physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition that requires home care, professional medical diagnosis or care, or preventative medical care; or
  3. attend the employee’s routine medical appointment or a routine medical appointment for the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of spouse; or
  4. address the psychological, physical or legal effects of domestic violence.

Amendment

The amendment includes a new subsection that, beginning on Nov. 21, 2024, requires employers to allow employees to use accrued time to:

  1. address the employee’s own physical and mental health needs, and those of their spouse, if the employee or the employee’s spouse experiences pregnancy loss or a failed assisted reproduction, adoption or surrogacy.

Although employees may have been entitled to take time off for their own or a spouse’s pregnancy loss under subsection (1) or (2), depending on the circumstances, new subsection (5) guarantees accrued time can be used in all cases of pregnancy loss and expands protections to include failed attempts at growing an employee’s family, such as failed in vitro fertilization or adoption.

The amendment was included in a larger bill entitled “An Act Promoting Access to Midwifery Care and Out-of-Hospital Birth Options.” The bill focuses on improving maternal health care, both physical and mental, and expanding protections for families and children, including those seeking fertility treatment and adoption.

Next

Employers should expect the Office of the Attorney General to publish an updated notice of employee rights related to earned sick time that includes the expanded list of reasons employees may use earned sick time. The paid leave landscape is continually changing, and employers should contact a Jackson Lewis attorney for recommendations on compliance.

Each year, the New York State Department of Financial Services announces changes to the employee contribution rate and benefit amounts under the New York Paid Family Leave Law (NY PFL) effective the next year. It has announced changes effective Jan. 1, 2025.

The following are the announced changes to the NY PFL:

  1. The contribution rate for 2025 will be 0.388% of an employee’s gross wages per pay period, for a maximum annual contribution of $354.53. This contribution rate reflects an increase from the 0.373% rate in 2024.

    All employers should take steps to ensure the correct contribution rate is withheld as of Jan. 1, 2025. Although not required, employers may choose to notify employees of the increase to the contribution rate.
  2. The maximum weekly benefit amount will be $1,177.32 per week.

    As a result of the Department’s increase to the New York State Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW) for 2025, the maximum weekly benefit amount available to individuals has been changed to $1,177.32. This amount represents 67% of the NYSAWW for 2025, which the Department set at $1,757.19. The 2025 benefit represents an increase from the 2024 benefit of $1,151.16 per week.

For additional guidance, please contact a Jackson Lewis attorney.

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.