What is a "Benefit Year" for Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave?

Eligible employees can take the amount of leave allowed under the Paid Family Medical Leave Act ("PFMLA") in each "benefit year."

Unlike the federal FMLA, where employers can choose between using a calendar year or a rolling benefit year, the PFMLA specifies that a benefit year is 52 weeks beginning on the last Sunday before the leave first begins.

This means if you go on a 12 week leave beginning Monday, August 1, 2022, your benefit year will run from July 31, 2022 through July 30, 2023. It also should mean that even if you only use 6 of those weeks, your benefit year restarts entirely at zero on July 31, 2021, though it remains to be seen how courts will interpret this statute.

Learn more here about the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave law.