Department of Family and Medical Leave finalizes revised PFML regulations

Back in June, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave issued new proposed revisions to the “final” regulations it published a year earlier related to the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (PFML). After a public hearing, the department made some changes to its proposed revisions and quietly published the new “final” regulations. Most of the proposed changes remain in the final version, but there are several new changes and a few noteworthy differences between what was initially proposed and what the department ultimately adopted. As we near the January 1 go-live date for PFML claims, employers should make note of the important changes made by the department in the regulations.

Intermittent leave no longer required in 15-minute increments

You may recall that, originally, the PFML regulations gave employers absolute discretion to decide the minimum amount of leave an employee had to use when taking PFML intermittently. The proposed revisions eliminated such discretion and required all intermittent leave to be taken in 15-minute increments. In the final version, however, the department adopted a third approach—specifically, employees who take PFML intermittently must take the leave in whatever increments of time the employer uses to account for other types of leave under an established policy. It’s possible this might be 15 minutes.