In one of his last acts before leaving office, Gov. Deval
Patrick signed into law a new Parental Leave Act amending the
Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act ("MMLA") on January 7.
The MMLA currently requires employers with six or more employees to
provide female employees who have been employed for at least three
months as a full-time employee with eight weeks of leave "for
the purpose of giving birth or adopting a child." The new
Parental Leave Act expands the MMLA to provide eight weeks of leave
to both male and female employees who have been employed for at
least three months. The new law goes into effect April 7.
As before, the new Parental Leave Act requires employers to restore
employees taking leave to the same or similar position upon their
return to work. However, unlike the old law, leave beyond eight
weeks may now also be protected. An employer who agrees to provide
an employee with more than eight weeks' leave must reinstate
the employee at the end of the extended leave, unless the employer
clearly informs the employee in writing prior to the start of the
leave and prior to any subsequent extension of the leave that
taking longer than eight weeks will result in denial of
reinstatement or loss of other rights and benefits. This provision
effectively reverses the Supreme Judicial Court's 2010 decision
in Global
NAPs, Inc. v. Awiszus, which held that the MMLA
protected only the first eight weeks of an employee's 10-week,
employer-approved leave.
In addition, the Parental Leave Act reiterates that leave may be
paid or unpaid at the discretion of the employer. Accordingly,
employers should specify in their written policies whether such
leave (or any part thereof) will be paid or unpaid. The law also
notes that two parents working for the same employer are entitled
only to eight weeks of leave in the aggregate for the birth or
adoption of the same child.
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has previously
issued guidelines on the MMLA, and we anticipate that it will
eventually issue new guidance related to the expanded rights
created by the Parental Leave Act. In the meantime, employers
should review and revise their existing polices as necessary to
comply with the requirements of this new law.
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