Massachusetts Revises Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefit Notice; Updated EEOC and FLSA Workplace Posters

State Update Overview

In November 2023, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave published a revised Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) notice.

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law Update

• Increase in maximum payroll contributions of up to 0.46% from a covered individual’s wages or other earnings
• Increase in maximum weekly benefit of up to $1,149.90
• Covered individual must have earned at least $6,300 in the last four quarters
• Newly added form for private plans

Effective June 27, 2023, the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” Poster to summarize the new law.

EEOC “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” Poster Updates

• Illegal employment discrimination on the bases of sex includes childbirth.
• Illegal employment discrimination includes interference, coercion, or threats related to exercising rights regarding disability discrimination or pregnancy accommodation.
• Failure to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition can be considered discriminatory.
• Discriminatory employment practice can include conduct that coerces, intimidates, threatens, or interferes with someone exercising their rights, or someone assisting or encouraging someone else to exercise rights, regarding disability discrimination (including accommodation) or pregnancy accommodation.

Effective April 28, 2023, the Provide Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP) extends the right to receive break time to pump and a private place to pump at work to more nursing employees.  The federal Department of Labor (DOL) revised its “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” poster to include changes from the new law.

DOL “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” Poster Updates

• The section titled Nursing Mothers has been changed to Pump at Work.
• The right to break time to express breast milk previously only applied to employees subject to the overtime requirement under the FLSA (non-exempt employees). This reference has been removed.
• The revised poster clearly notes that narrow exemptions may apply to the pump at work requirements.

Massachusetts Labor Law Poster Update

All businesses within Massachusetts must post the “Paid Family and Medical Leave”, “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal”, and “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” posters along with other state-mandated posting requirements where they are sufficiently accessible and viewable to all employees. These changes have been reflected in our Massachusetts & Federal Labor Law Poster and require an immediate mandatory update. Failure to meet compliance requirements and display the updated posters could result in fines.

Order the Massachusetts & Federal Labor Law Poster to immediately include these required updates.