Massachusetts has ‘strongest’ paid family medical leave program in nation, supporters say

Massachusetts workers can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid leave to care for a seriously ill or injured family member with the state’s paid family medical leave law now in full effect.

“This is a program that levels the playing field, particularly for our small businesses, and makes Massachusetts a more competitive place to be able to attract and retain talent, and grow businesses,” Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, said, joining a group of supporters to mark the occasion on Thursday.

The law, signed in 2018, ensures workers do not lose their jobs or wages when they take time off to care for family or a new child.

Funded through a sliding scale wage tax of up to 38 cents out of every $100 dollars, caregivers who are eligible for the PFMLA can earn up to $850 per week in wage replacement benefits, based on their earnings.

The Massachusetts program is “the strongest” in the country, Lewis said, adding that he hopes the Bay State law becomes the blueprint for a national policy.

Since January, 31,000 Massachusetts workers have taken parental leave or leave for a serious medical condition. As of Thursday, people qualify to take leave to care for a spouse or domestic partner, children including nonbiological children, parents and in-laws, grandchildren, grandparents and siblings.

Senate President Karen Spilka joined workers in front of the state McCormack Building Thursday where she was working when she had her first child in 1986.

“I had zero leave, zero paid leave. The first day I came back after a few months, I cried. I wasn’t ready to come back but we couldn’t afford anything more,” the Ashland Democrat said, noting she suffered a similar plight when she had her second son.

That experience, and later as a caretaker for her sick mother, inspired Spilka to file the first paid leave bill in the Senate in 2006.

“(I) found it very difficult and I vowed if I was ever in the position to change that, I would,” Spilka said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3waVzFQ