Employer Obligations Under the MA Paid Family Medical Leave Law

As year-end approaches, employers in Massachusetts are well advised to ensure compliance with their upcoming obligations under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (“PFML”).

Effective January 1, 2025, the maximum weekly benefit available to employees on leave under the PFML will increase from $1,149.90 to $1,170.64. The employer contribution rate will remain unchanged at 0.88% for employers with 25 or more covered individuals, and 0.46% for employers with fewer than 25 covered individuals. 

Employers should prepare to share the updated 2025 poster, notices, and rate sheets with employees, which can be found here. Updated posters must be displayed in the workplace in a location where they can easily be read. Current employees who received notice of PFML benefits previously must be notified 30 days in advance of any changes in the rates. This means employers should prepare to notify employees no later than December 2, 2024. Newly hired employees must be provided with the notice within 30 days of hire and should return a signed form acknowledging receipt of the information.

Additionally, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave has updated its language on topping off benefits to clarify that an employee’s decision to “top off” must conform to the employer’s general policies on paid leave. Previously, the language indicated that employees were entitled to supplement their PFML benefits with any accrued paid leave, potentially resulting in employees receiving 100% of their typical wage during PFML leave. The revised language now clearly limits an employee’s ability to top off their PFML only to the extent permissible under the employer’s general paid leave policies.

From a practical perspective, this means that employers may enact and enforce policies that prohibit employees from topping off their benefits during PFML leave. Employer policies may not, however, discriminate against employees for exercising their rights under the PFML, so any policy that limits topping off for employees taking PFML leave must, likewise, limit topping off for other types of leaves authorized by the employer.

If you have any questions about the employee notice obligations, topping off options or any other requirements under the PFML, please contact a member of our Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Group.