Paid Family and Medical Leave law is a local option for municipalities

With regulations expected by July 1 for the state’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave law, municipalities are reminded that they are not subject to any of the law’s requirements, including payroll deductions and notice requirements, unless they adopt the law’s provisions by a majority vote of their legislative body.

Employees who work for a state or federal governmental agency in Massachusetts are automatically covered by the PFML law. Employees who work for a city, town or other local governmental employer are covered only if their employer chooses to opt in.

Signed into law in June 2018 as part of the so-called “grand bargain,” the PFML law established a paid family and medical leave program in the Commonwealth and created a Department of Family and Medical Leave within the Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Under the law, covered employees may take up to 12 weeks of paid family leave, up to 26 weeks of paid family leave to care for a covered service member, and up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave, making the law the most progressive family and medical leave program in the country.

Thus far, no municipality in the Commonwealth has adopted the PFML law.

For more information, visit www.mass.gov/info-details/paid-family-medical-leave-for-employees-faq.