As you well know, employees and employers are responsible for contributions to the Massachusetts Family and Employment Security Trust Fund starting July 1, 2019. On April 23 and 24, Yours Truly presented webinars on the current status of Massachusetts paid family and medical leave and what you need to know, and do, now to get ready. Short on time? Access the webinar PowerPoint deck by clicking Mr. Radar; it is chock full of timely information and important links to the Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) website resources. An audio recording of the webinar will be available soon – just watch this blog for a link when it is ready.

CLICK MR. RADAR FOR THE WEBINAR CONTENT!

In the meantime, here are a couple of crucial pointers for your immediate action:

The DFML has released forms for the required general notice to workers about the PFML and their rights.
Post these notices now, in English and in each language which is the primary language for 5 or more
individuals in your workplace. DFML has made the poster available in 13 languages. Access the posters
on the DFML website here.
Individual notices. You must send specific notices to employees and contract workers by May 31, 2019,
in workers’ primary language. The notices require you to advise your workers of various information,
including whether you will be withholding the employee share of the premium contributions from their
paychecks and, if so, in what percentage amounts; and whether you presently have a private plan
approved by the Commonwealth for the medical leave, family leave, or both. Then, you must get a
signed statement from each employee and contract worker either acknowledging receipt of the notice
or declining to acknowledge receipt. If the employee refuses to sign either, you must be able to show
that you actually gave the notice and an opportunity to sign either statement to the employee.
The DFML has provided the notices in 5 languages so far, that can be downloaded here.

Check out our webinar deck at the link above for a lot more MA PFML information, including things to consider when deciding whether to adopt a private plan rather than provide the required benefits through the Commonwealth’s program, and a list of action items.

For more background info on MA PFML you can type “Massachusetts” in the search box of this blog to find all of our previous MA PFML blog posts.