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

© 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. | 37 An employer may not discriminate or retaliate against an employee for taking leave under ARDV. 189 In addition, when an employee returns from leave, the employee must be returned to his or her original job or an equivalent position. 190 ARDV also requires employers to notify employees of their rights under the statute. 191 Although the statute does not specify the type of notice required, employers are advised to provide employees with a policy covering ARDV leave. I. Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave On June 28, 2018, the Massachusetts Governor signed into law the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (MPFML), which provides for temporary income replacement to employees on a qualifying family or medical leave. 192 The law is administered by the Department of Family and Medical Leave within the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. 193 MPFML applies to employers with one or more employees working in Massachusetts and covers full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, and former employees. 194 Eligible Massachusetts workers are entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid family leave and up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave, with a maximum of 26 total weeks per benefit year. 195 An employee is eligible for MPFML benefits if over the 12 months preceding his or her application for benefits, the employee has received total wages from Massachusetts employers that equal or exceed 30 times the individual’s weekly benefit amount. 196 Family leave is available for bonding with a child within 12 months of birth or adoption; for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a family member is on active duty or notified of an impending call to active duty; to care for a family member who is a covered service member; and to care for a family member with a serious health condition. 197 Medical leave is for a covered individual’s own serious health condition. 198 The maximum employee benefit is $850 per week, but that amount will be adjusted annually. 199 189 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52E(i). 190 Id . 191 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 52E(k). See also A.G. Advisory Concerning ARDV , supra note 173. 192 M.G.L. ch. 175M. 193 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 8. 194 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 1. 195 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 2. 196 458 CMR 2.02. 197 Id. 198 Id. 199 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 4. For 2022, the maximum benefit amount is $1084.31 per week.