Paid Family Leave for Military Families

The Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Law and Military Service

Active duty members of the armed forces and their families have had certain job protections for many years under federal and state laws. They have not, however, had the opportunity to secure payment for the needed time off, or even to access federal protections if the employee or the employer was not covered by the FMLA. The Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act ("PFMLA") attempts to address this gap with some specific protections for military families.

Key Provisions for Active Duty Military Families:

While most workers will need to wait until July 1, 2021 to take leave to care for a family member with serous health conditions, this leave is available effective January 1, 2021 for families of servicemembers.
The maximum family leave to care for a servicemember is 26 weeks, as opposed to 12 weeks for other families.
Family members of active duty military can take 12 weeks of family leave for "qualifying exigencies" relating to military service.

Despite these enhanced leave periods, you should remember that the sum total of all PFML leave in a benefit year cannot exceed 26 weeks. This means if you took 26 weeks in a year to care for a servicemember, you could not then take an additional 12 weeks for your own medical leave in that same year.

Enhanced Leave for Military Families

Employees may take up to 26 weeks of leave- a full half a year- to care for a family member who is a "covered servicemember" with a serious health condition caused or aggravated by active duty service. A "covered servicemember" includes active duty military, but can also include former military personnel if their illness or injury was caused or aggravated by active service.

By comparison, for non-military families, leave to care for an ill family member will not be available until July 1, 2021, and when it is available it will be limited to 12 weeks in a benefit year.

How this is different from prior federal law. Under the FMLA, there are also special provisions for military families, including an extended (26 weeks) leave period for caring for an active duty family member with a serious health condition. However, the FMLA has critical limitations. First, if you worked for a smaller employer (fewer than 50 employees) the FMLA did not apply to you at all. Second, if you had worked for a larger employer for less than a year, it also did not apply. Finally, the leave itself was not required to be paid.

Under the PFMLA, any employed military spouse can take advantage of the leave and receive partial payment for that leave. They are also entitled to the same protection against retaliation for using the leave.

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What Is a "Qualifying Exigency"?

The PFMLA recognizes the need for time off for military spouses for reasons other than a serious health condition. For that reason, it includes 12 weeks of leave for what it calls "qualifying exigencies." These include:

Caring for the active duty servicemember's child or other family member while they are deployed;
Making financial or legal arrangements for the active duty servicemember while they are deployed;
Attending counseling;
Spending time with the servicemember when they are on rest and recreation leave or when they first come home from deployment; and
Making funeral arrangements if the servicemember is killed in the course of his or her service.

Some examples of how you might use "qualifying exigency" PFML if your family member is deployed:

If the servicemember is the primary caregiver to your minor children, you may need to take time to attend to routine parenting responsibilities that could require an adjustment to your own work schedule. The same could be true if the servicemember had caregiver responsibilities for an aging or ill parent.
Certain things done in preparation for deployment are covered as well For example, if you and your spouse have not yet taken care of your estate planning and need to get a will, power of attorney, or health care proxy in place prior to deployment, that time off of work is covered as well.
A return home from active duty can be a period of intense adjustment for the family, and time off of work to spend with your family as you make that adjustment is covered.
You may need to take care of your own mental health during a deployment too, and the PFMLA specifically includes attending counseling as a legitimate basis for paid leave for this reason.

It is important to note that this, as well as any leave under the PFMLA, may be taken intermittently. What that means is you could take a few weeks to spend time with your active duty spouse while they are home on R&R, and later take time to attend to any of the other "qualifying exigencies."

How We Can Help

We can help you navigate these issues and get clarity on your rights and obligations in the face of a service-related need for leave that you may be facing. 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.