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

30 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Effective April 1, 2018, an employer may be required to grant additional leave to an employee as an accommodation for pregnancy or conditions relating to pregnancy, if such leave is reasonable and would not impose an undue burden on the employer. 144 F. Proration of Bonus Payments to Employees on FMLA and MPLA Leave Under the FMLA regulations, an employer may deny or prorate the bonus of an employee who has taken FMLA leave during the bonus period if the bonus is (1) based on easily measurable tasks (e.g., perfect attendance or number of products sold), and (2) other employees taking other kinds of leave also have their bonuses denied or prorated if they fail to meet their goals because of the leave. 145 The rules do not discuss application of this concept to other kinds of bonuses, such as bonuses based on the performance of the company as a whole. Before prorating an employee’s bonus, an employer should ensure that the bonus is based on achievement of specified goals and that those goals are spelled out clearly in the bonus policy. In addition, the policy should specify that bonuses will be prorated and that employees on all types of leave will have their bonuses prorated. Massachusetts law provides less guidance regarding proration of bonuses under the MPLA. Taking MPLA leave must not affect an employee’s entitlement to bonuses (or other pay and benefits enumerated in the statute), but “when applicable” the amount of time spent on leave need not be included in the computation of the bonus. 146 Massachusetts courts have not interpreted this language or determined specifically when and to what degree bonus payments and other benefits may be reduced or prorated due to MPLA leave. In addition, while Massachusetts courts generally look to analogous federal precedent in interpreting employment laws, those interpretations are not binding, and thus Massachusetts courts may take a more restrictive view regarding the denial or proration of bonuses for employees on MPLA leave. G. The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law (ESTL) 147 entitles all employees whose primary place of wor k 148 is in Massachusetts to earn up to forty hours per year of sick time. Under the ESTL, sick time may be used for the following purposes: • To care for the physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition of the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse 144 M.G.L. ch. 151B, § 4(1E). 145 29 C.F.R. § 825.215(c)(2). 146 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 105D(d). 147 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 148C. 148 940 C.M.R. § 33.03(1) (“An employee is eligible to accrue and use earned sick t ime if the employee’s primary place of work is in Massachuset t s regardless of the locat ion of the employer. An employee need not spend 50 percent or more t ime working in Massachuset t s for a single employer in order for Massachuset t s to be the employee’s primary place of work.”).