{"id":272,"date":"2020-06-25T13:03:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/employment-blog\/?p=272"},"modified":"2021-06-10T14:18:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T14:18:17","slug":"proposed-amendments-to-the-massachusetts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/employment-blog\/2020\/06\/25\/proposed-amendments-to-the-massachusetts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-regulations\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Amendments to the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In just a few months, beginning on January 1, 2021, most Massachusetts workers will be eligible for paid family and medical leave under the <a href=\"https:\/\/malegislature.gov\/Laws\/SessionLaws\/Acts\/2018\/Chapter121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paid Family Medical Leave Law<\/a> (the \u201cPFML\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>In May 2020, perhaps somewhat lost in the more immediate COVID-19 crisis, the Department of Family and Medical Leave (the \u201cDepartment\u201d), published proposed amendments to their previously issued regulations.\u00a0 Highlighted below are several of the key provisions of the proposed amendments specifically impacting the rights of Massachusetts workers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Independent Contractors: <\/strong><\/em>The proposed regulations clarify that properly classified Independent Contractors will not be eligible for covered leave, formalizing previous guidance from the Department.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Private Plan Exemptions: <\/strong><\/em>To the extent an employer seeks a private plan exemption to the PFML, the private paid family and\/or medical leave plan must include all qualified employees as well as covered contract workers and former employees, and may not be applied to only a portion of the workforce.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Anti-Retaliation Protections: <\/strong><\/em>Under the PFML, any \u201cnegative change in seniority, status, employment benefits, pay or other terms or conditions of employment\u201d during an employee\u2019s leave or within six months thereafter creates a presumption of retaliation. In balancing this presumption, the proposed amendments provide that a \u201cnegative change\u201d shall not include \u201ctrivial or subjectively perceived inconveniences that affect de minimis aspects of an employee\u2019s work.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Calculation \/ Reduction of Benefits: <\/strong><\/em>The proposed amendments also expand the categories of required offsets to the weekly benefit amount provided under the PFML. Specifically, the proposed amendments extend such reductions beyond governmental disability, unemployment, and workers\u2019 compensation benefits, as well as permanent disability policies of employers, to include \u201cany wages received from another employer or covered business entity or through self-employment.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The full slate of proposed amendments includes much more and can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/doc\/51420-draft-markup-of-revised-paid-family-and-medical-leave-pfml-regulations\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. If you have specific questions or concerns about your rights to family or medical leave, we encourage you to seek the assistance of counsel. We will continue to follow and report on the PFML as the Department\u2019s proposed amendments are finalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In just a few months, beginning on January 1, 2021, most Massachusetts workers will be eligible for paid family and medical leave under the Paid Family Medical Leave Law (the \u201cPFML\u201d). In May 2020, perhaps somewhat lost in the more immediate COVID-19 crisis, the Department of Family and Medical Leave (the \u201cDepartment\u201d), published proposed amendments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates-in-employment-law","tag-fmla"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Proposed Amendments to the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Regulations - Employment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/employment-blog\/2020\/06\/25\/proposed-amendments-to-the-massachusetts-paid-family-and-medical-leave-regulations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proposed Amendments to the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Regulations - Employment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In just a few months, beginning on January 1, 2021, most Massachusetts workers will be eligible for paid family and medical leave under the Paid Family Medical Leave Law (the \u201cPFML\u201d). 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