For those of you who may have missed this important update, Maryland law now requires employers with 15 or more employees to permit the use of existing accrued paid leave for bereavement purposes. Effective October 1, 2021, Maryland’s Flexible Leave Act (“MFLA”) was amended to allow employees to use paid leave for bereavement purposes related to the death of an immediate family member. For purposes of bereavement leave, “immediate family member” is broadly defined as the employee’s spouse, parent, or child (which includes an adopted, biological, or foster child or parent, a stepchild or stepparent, a legal ward or guardian, or a person standing in loco parentis). Notably, the MFLA only applies to private sector employers with 15 or more employees who provide paid leave to their employees.
Specifically, under the expanded law, eligible employees may now use previously earned “leave with pay,” including paid sick leave, vacation time, paid time off, compensatory time, and other time away from work that is earned and available to the employee, as bereavement leave. Before this amendment, the MFLA only authorized employees of employers with 15 or more individuals to use paid leave to care for an immediate family member who is ill under the same conditions and rules that would apply for an employee’s own illness. Aside from the addition of bereavement leave, the MFLA remains unchanged. For example, an employee may only use leave with pay that has been earned and employees who earn more than one type of leave with pay may elect the type and amount of leave to use. This law does not affect leave granted under the federal FMLA.
Few other states require employers to provide bereavement leave. Under Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave law, eligible employees are entitled to paid bereavement leave for seven calendar days following the death of a family member for whom the employee would have qualified for medical or family leave. In Oregon, eligible employees of employers with 25 or more employees are entitled to take up to two weeks of family leave as bereavement leave due to the death of each family member in any 12-month period. Employees may take this leave unpaid or may use paid accrued sick leave, vacation, or other employer-allowed leave to cover the leave period. Under Oregon’s Sick Leave Act, eligible employees may also use up to 40 hours of earned sick leave to attend or make arrangements for the funeral of, or to grieve the death of, a family member. Illinois also has a Child Bereavement Leave law requiring employers with 50 or more employees to provide eligible employees with up to two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave in a 12-month period to: attend the funeral or alternative to a funeral of a child; make arrangements required by the death of a child; or grieve the death of the child.
Employers with employees in these states should review and make any necessary updates to their existing paid leave policies and procedures to ensure compliance with these requirements. Miles & Stockbridge closely monitors developments in this area and remains ready to assist clients with navigating requirements in Maryland and across the US.
Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.
[View source.]
