Massachusetts issues revised Paid Family and Medical Leave Act regulations

Late last year, the Department of Family and Medical Leave released proposed revisions to the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFML) regulations. As expected, at the beginning of January 2023, the department issued the final revisions to the regulations. Employers should familiarize themselves with the changes to ensure they are in compliance with the most up-to-date regulations.

PFML refresher and the department’s annual report

Since January 1, 2021, the PFML has allowed eligible employees to take paid leave from work for certain qualifying reasons. In general, employees are entitled to take 20 weeks of paid leave for their own serious health condition, 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a family member (as defined by the law) with a serious health condition, and 12 weeks to bond with a new biological, adopted, or fostered child. There are also military exigency and service member care leaves, but they’re used much less frequently. In a single benefit year, no employee can take more than 26 weeks of PFML leave.

Since the PFML went into effect just over 2 years ago, tens of thousands of employees have sought to take advantage of this new paid leave benefit. In the fiscal year 2022, the department approved 112,531 applications, while denying 27,507 applications.