The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave hosted the first in a series of listening tour meetings on January 30 in Boston. NFIB’s state director in Massachusetts, Christopher Carlozzi provided comments to the panel on behalf of small businesses. Carlozzi explained to the panelist that Massachusetts employers are extremely concerned with the new policy and raised several questions about the draft leave regulations.
In his prepared remarks Carlozzi highlighted the following concerns:
- Further defining the year lookback period for the employee count to determine if a business is subject to the employer contribution. Businesses with fewer than 25 workers are not subject to the contribution, but they must still remit the employee contribution.
- The law’s impact on employers who hire self-employed contractors.
- How small business will manage multiple employees on leave.
- Ensuring the termination of temporary workers will not affect a business’ unemployment insurance experience rating.
- Making certain businesses are aware of the law’s retaliation clause language.
The Boston session was the first event in this series and the schedule of remaining events may be found here if you are interesting in attending: https://www.mass.gov/news/eolwd-to-host-listening-sessions-on-draft-paid-family-and-medical-leave-regulations
NFIB has also been asked to help the Department of Family and Medical Leave test the new software system required to track and maintain the new leave benefit to ensure user friendliness for business owners. They asked if any small business owners would be interested in knowing more about the system and providing feedback from an employer’s perspective. If you are interested, please email: [email protected].
NFIB will continue to keep you up-to-date on the regulatory process for this new burdensome law.
