What are Family and Medical Leave Rights?
Understanding FMLA and PFMLA in MassachusettsAll employees in Massachusetts, and some independent contractors, now have rights to partially paid, job-protected leave qualifying reasons. These rights overlap with the prior rights of some employees for unpaid, but still job-protected, leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). In brief:
Unpaid FMLA leave allows you up to 12 weeks for your own serious health condition or to help an immediate family member with a serious health condition, if (i) your employer has 50 or more employees; and (ii) you have worked for that employer for a minimum amount of time (in most circumstances, about a year). Massachusetts PFMLA leave allows you varying amounts of leave for different circumstances: 12 weeks for helping a family member, 20 weeks for your own serious health condition, and 26 weeks to care for a family member in active duty military service. This leave is available to all employees, regardless of the size of the employer, so long as you have earned at least $5,700 over the prior 4 calendar quarters, and earned at least 30 times the benefit amount you are seeking. If you are eligible for both, you still have only the one leave period. In other words, if you are entitled to 12 weeks under PFMLA, you can't take an additional 12 weeks under FMLA. Both the FMLA and the PFMLA prohibit retaliation against you for requesting or taking leave. Learn more here about the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Law. |
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Questions About Your Rights to Family Medical Leave?
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Meet Our Employment Lawyers
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, been interviewed by the Massachusetts Superlawyers magazine about non compete agreements, and written an op-ed in the New York Times about the dangers of non competes. Along with the rest of the slnlaw team, she has helped hundreds of clients navigate, negotiate, or defend against their non compete agreements.
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 many clients understand and evaluate their non compete agreements and develop strategies for defending against non compete enforcement and negotiating resolution.
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 works with employers to develop reasonable and enforceable employee agreements, including non competes. She has also helped employees understand and evaluate their non compete agreements and develop strategies for defending against non compete enforcement and negotiating resolution.
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 both evaluate and negotiate their non compete agreements, and defended non compete claims in state and federal courts.
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