Massachusetts Paid Leave Ballot Initiative Gathers Steam, HR Policy to Explore Issue in Call

Employment Law

Paid leave proponents in Massachusetts have begun collecting signatures to secure a 2018 ballot initiative that would mandate employers in the state to provide six weeks of paid family leave and 26 weeks of paid medical leave.  If enacted, employers would be required to pay 0.63 percent of an employee's annual wage (up to the Social Security wage limit) into a state fund that would pay out benefits, but they would be allowed to deduct up to 50 percent of the tax (0.315 percent of an employee's annual wage) from an employee's pay.  An employee could also take no more than 26 weeks of combined paid family and medical leave per year.  HR Policy will be holding a conference call on Thursday, December 7 at 12:00 p.m. ET to discuss this issue, business community responses to this initiative, and congressional efforts to preempt this and other state paid leave laws.  Please contact E.R. Anderson at [email protected] for more information about the call.