The new year is an excellent time for businesses to take a fresh look at their policies to ensure they are up-to-date. This article highlights recent updates to the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave law (PFML) to be addressed by employers in their policies and procedures.

Contribution Rates Increasing for 2024

The Department of Family Medical Leave (DFML) updates employer/employee contribution rates and maximum weekly benefit amounts for the PFML program on an annual basis, with new rates and benefit amounts going into effect on January 1st. The new rates are as follows:

• New maximum weekly benefit: The maximum weekly benefit amount an employee is eligible increased from $1,129.82 to $1,149.90 per week. 
• New contribution rates for employers of 25+ covered individuals: The contribution rate for larger employers increased from 0.63 percent to 0.88 percent of eligible wages. Of the 0.88 percent, at least 0.42 percent must be paid by the employer.
• New contribution rates for employers of less than 25 covered individuals: The contribution rate for smaller employers increased from 0.318 percent to 0.46 percent of eligible wages. While small employers must submit the funds withheld from eligible wages, they may require the individual employee to cover the entire amount.

Of note, these rate changes represent a nearly 45 percent increase in rate for individuals working for smaller employers, and a nearly 40 percent increase for large employers and their employees.

Update Your Procedures, Posters, and Policies for 2024

Employers should ensure that their payroll providers are updating processes accordingly to account for the updated rates. Moreover, employers should provide updated notices to employees and update their workplaces posters, as described below.

• Update to Notices. Notices may be provided electronically or in paper format. If employees all have access to company e-mail, circulating an updated notice to employees via e-mail will satisfy the requirements. Model notices are available through the DFML’s website, and employers should select the applicable notice based on the employer’s number of covered individuals. The notices are available in 12 languages, and employers should provide translated versions as necessary to their workforce.
• Poster Update. The DFML website also provides a mandatory workplace poster that can be downloaded in 12 languages. The poster should be posted in a physical location in the workplace where it can be easily read.  If an employer has a fully remote workforce, it can be circulated electronically. 

PFML Benefits Can Now Be Supplemented With Paid Time Off

For any leave requests filed on or after November 1, 2023, employees receiving PFML benefits may now supplement (or “top off”) their PFML benefits with any available accrued paid leave under the employer’s Paid Time Off policy (e.g., sick time, vacation, personal time, etc.). Of note, prior to this change, employers who used a private plan instead of the Commonwealth’s DFML were permitted to allow employees to “top off” their benefits.  Now, all employers must permit employees to “top off.”

Importantly, if employees choose to supplement their PFML benefits with accrued paid leave, the combined weekly sum of PFML benefits and accrued paid leave benefits cannot exceed the employee’s Individual Average Weekly Wage (“IAWW”). Further, employers are responsible for tracking whether an employee’s combined PFML and accrued paid leave benefits do not exceed their IAWW. It is also the employer’s responsibility to handle the repayment process for any overages. Additional questions and answers about the new “topping off” policy are available on the DFML’s website.

The 2024 model notice provided by the DFML includes language alerting employees of their right to “top off” their benefits.

Stay In Touch With the DFML

The PFML is a relatively new program. The law was passed in 2018, and benefits were rolled out in 2021. As such, we expect to see more tweaks to its administration over the coming years. The DFML generally releases updated model posters and notices in November of the year prior, and also circulates periodic notices related to changes in the law. Employers and/or human resources professionals can sign up for the DFML’s mailing list, to stay abreast of updates: https://www.mass.gov/forms/join-our-mailing-list.  

As always, employers are advised to also work with their employment counsel to stay on top of these evolving issues.