Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

28 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP • To “participate in school activities directly related to the educational advancement of a [child] of the employee, such as parent-teacher conferences or interviewing for a new school” • To “accompany [a child] of the employee to routine medical or dental appointments, such as check-ups or vaccinations” • To “accompany an elderly relative of the employee to routine medical or dental appointments or appointments for other professional services related to the elder’s care, such as interviewing at nursing or group homes” 128 The provisions of the SNLA closely track those of the FMLA. For instance, under both Acts, the employer must clearly define the twelve-month period in which the twenty-four hours of leave may be taken. The Massachusetts Attorney General has issued an advisory stating that an employer can choose from a variety of methods to determine the twelve-month period, but must then apply the chosen method consistently and uniformly to all employees. Approved methods include the calendar year, the fiscal year, the employee’s anniversary date, “[t]he 12-month period measured forward from the date of the employee’s first request for leave under the [SNLA],” or “[a] ‘rolling’ 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any leave under the [SNLA].” 129 This allowance applies to non-exempt employees only. 130 A deduction of less than a full day from the salary of an exempt employee would violate the salary basis test, causing the employee to lose his or her exempt status, as discussed in Section VI.A.2. The SNLA allows leave to be taken on an intermittent or reduced leave schedule. This means that an eligible employee does not need to take all the leave at once, but may take the leave a few hours at a time depending on the employee’s needs. Employers may require employees to take the leave in minimum increments of no less than one hour. 131 As with the FMLA, employees taking SNLA leave may choose, or be required by their employer, to substitute accrued vacation, personal, or sick leave for leave taken under the SNLA. 132 Nothing in the SNLA requires employers to provide paid leave for situations other than those normally allowed. 133 In contrast to the FMLA under which employees must, if feasible, provide thirty days’ advance notice to their employer of the need to take leave, under the SNLA, employees need only provide seven days’ notice, if feasible. 134 If the need for leave is not foreseeable, the law permits 128 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52D(b). 129 See Massachuset t s At torney General Advisory 98/1 (cit ing 29 C.F.R. § 825.200(b)). 130 See DOL Wage & Hour Opinion Let ter FLSA2007-6 (Feb. 8, 2007). 131 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52D(c); Massachuset t s At torney General Advisory 98/1. 132 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2654; M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52D(c); Massachuset t s At torney General Advisory 98/1. 133 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52D(c). 134 29 C.F.R. § 825.302; M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52D(d).