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

38 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP To finance the benefits provided under the MPFML, employers must contribute to the Family and Employment Security Trust Fund, unless they provide equivalent or greater benefits through a private plan that has been approved by the Department of Family and Medical Leave. 200 The 2022 contribution rate for employers with 25 or more employees in Massachusetts is 0.68% of the first $147,00 0 201 of an employee’s annual earnings: 0.56% for medical leave and 0.12% for family leave. 202 Employers may deduct 100% of the family leave contribution, and up to 40% of the medical leave contribution from employees’ wages. 203 Employers with fewer than 25 employees in Massachusetts do not have to pay the employer share of the medical leave contribution, but are required to collect, and remit to the Trust Fund the identical employee portions of both contributions. 204 Employers must provide written notice to employees regarding the MPFML within 30 days of commencement of employment. 205 The MPFML includes broad anti-retaliation provisions. 206 Employees must be returned to their previous position (or an equivalent position with the same status, pay, employment benfits, length-of-service credit and seniority) upon their return from leave. Any negative change to an employee’s seniority, status, employment benefits, pay, or other terms and conditions of employment within six months of an employee’s leave is presumed to be retaliatory. 207 The presumption can be rebutted only by “clear and convincing evidence” that the employer had a non-retaliatory and independent justification for its actions. 208 III. PAYMENTOF WAGES During recent years, payment of wages has been the subject of confusion among employers in Massachusetts and has resulted in much litigation. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 149, Section 148, governs the timing and frequency of wage payments in the Commonwealth and 200 M.G.L. ch. 175M, §§ 6 and 11. A private plan must confer all of the same right s, protect ions and benefit s as the MPFML and must be approved by the Department of Family andMedical Leave. Id. at § 11. Employers who provide paid leave benefit s to their workforce through a private plan may apply for an exempt ion for collect ing, remit ting, and paying cont ribut ions to the public t rust fund. Se e ht tps://www.mass.gov/info-details/benefit -requirement s-for-private-paid-leave-plan-exempt ions ( last visited July 19, 2021). 201 This number is updated annually. Cont ribut ions are not required for covered individuals’ wages above the cont ribut ion and base limit established annually by the federal Social Security Administ rat ion for purposes of the Federal Old-age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program limit s pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 430. See 458 CMR 2.05(1)(c). 202 Cont ribut ion rates will be adjusted annually. M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 7(e); 458 CMR 2.05(1)(b). 203 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 6. 204 Id. 205 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 4. 206 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 9; 458 CMR 2.16(2). 207 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 9(c); 458 CMR 2.16(3). Negat ive changes do not include t rivial or subject ively perceived inconveniences that affect de minimis aspect s of an employee’s work. Id. 208 M.G.L. ch. 175M, § 9(c).