What Should I Do if an Employee Requests Family or Medical Leave?
Employer's Obligations in Responding to an Employee Request for PFMLIt is important to handle any employee request for leave, or related in any way to family or medical issues, properly. In the case of PFML, it is not the employer but the state that determines eligibility.
As an employer, however, you are obligated to inform the employee about the availability of leave under state law and provide information about how to apply. You should also have an honest and respectful conversation about what kind of leave the employee needs. They may, for example, only need or want intermittent leave- certain days off during the week, or reduced hours during the day. This may help you in planning for coverage during the leave, and help them stay connected to the workplace in the interim. It is also never to early to start thinking about their re-entry after a leave. You are required to hold either their job or a comparable job open for them during the allowed periods of leave. You are also not allowed to terminate them on their return if it is because they took leave. For this reason, if there were performance issues or other problems that existed before the leave, you should make sure those are documented, and when the employee returns make sure expectations are clearly communicated. Learn more here about the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Law. |
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Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years before starting the firm that became slnlaw in 2009. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, and helped thousands of clients on both the employee and employer side with severance and non compete review and negotiation, wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, and navigating the nuances of the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law.
Rebecca Rogers: Rebecca is a 2006 graduate of Boston College Law School, and has worked with slnlaw since 2013. She previously worked as an intellectual property litigation attorney for Fish & Richardson in Boston, Massachusetts, and clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Rebecca has helped clients with independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, and review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements.
Jenna Ordway: Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac Law School, and also earned an LLM in Taxation from Boston University in 2015. She has been affiliated with slnlaw since 2011, first as a law clerk and then as an attorney. Jenna has been recognized since 2019 as a "Rising Star" by Massachusetts Superlawyers. Jenna has helped clients with review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, employee misclassification and wage and hour disputes, and advice to small business owners about employment law and other business matters.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has helped clients on the employee and employer side with all varieties of employment law issues, including independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, and litigation in state and federal courts on employment related issues.
Sharleen Tinnin: Sharleen is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and has been with slnlaw since 2023. Prior to joining slnlaw, she worked with King, Tilden, McEttrick & Brink, P.C. on complex civil litigation matters. She previously worked for the United States Department of Justice, and received an "Excellence in Justice" award in 2017. Sharleen has helped clients with independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, and litigation in state and federal courts on employment related issues.
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We can help you navigate these issues and get clarity on your rights under the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Act and other laws that may protect you. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
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