Recently, California, Washington, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C enacted paid leave programs. A close look reveals key differences in how CT, NY and MA structure and fund their programs.
Connecticut
The Connecticut Paid Family and Medical Leave Act does not offer job protection for employees who are eligible for paid leave. It only provides income replacement for certain qualifying reasons.
Absent a statutory exception, all employees, whether working full-time or part-time and whether salaried or earning an hourly wage, may be eligible for benefits if they have earned wages of at least $2,325 in the highest earning quarter of the first four of the five most recently completed quarters.
The program is funded entirely by employee payroll contributions. Eligible employees may qualify for benefits for any of the following reasons:
- To receive treatment or recover from their own serious health condition, including pregnancy and serving as an organ or bone marrow donor;
- To care for a family member who has a serious health condition;
- To bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child;
- To care for a parent, spouse, child or next of kin who was injured in active duty;
- To address specific exigent circumstances with the deployment of a parent, spouse or child to overseas military duty; or
- To address specific situations arising from experiencing family violence.
New York
New York has separate paid family leave and paid sick leave programs under the NY Paid Family Leave Benefits Law and NY State Paid Sick Leave Law, respectively. Like Connecticut, New York’s program is fully funded by employee payroll contributions. New York, however, also specifically allows an employer to elect to pay for the benefit on behalf of its employees.
Under the New York Paid Family Leave Law, all private employers with one or more employees are required to provide paid family leave unless specifically excluded. Employees become eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave after 26 consecutive weeks of employment if regularly working 20 or more hours per week; or after 175 days worked if regularly working less than 20 hours per week. Unlike Connecticut, New York’s paid family leave provides both job protection and paid time off for any of the following reasons:
- To bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child;
- To care for a family member with a serious health condition; or
- To assist loved ones when a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent is deployed abroad on active military service.
Although employees cannot use paid family leave time for their own serious health condition, they have recourse under New York’s Paid Sick Leave program. All private sector employees in New York are covered—regardless of industry, occupation, and part-time status. Paid Sick Leave may be used for mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, regardless of whether it has been diagnosed or required medical care at the time of leave.
The amount of paid sick leave an employee may receive depends on the size of the employer. For example, employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year. The hours decrease as the size of the employer decreases.
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave program covers employees who have earned at least $5,700 over the past four calendar quarters. Unlike Connecticut and New York, the employee must reach an earnings threshold with respect to the benefit amount available. Each employee must have earned at least 30 times the benefit amount sought.
Like New York, the Massachusetts paid leave program provides job protection. Eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks per year for any of the following reasons:
- To care for the employee’s own serious health condition, including illness, injury, and pregnancy;
- To care for a family member’s serious health condition, including illness, injury, and pregnancy;
- To bond with a child during the first 12 months after the birth, adoption, or placement of the child;
- To care for a family member who was injured while serving in the armed forces; or
- To manage affairs while a family member is on active duty.
Unlike New York and Connecticut, Massachusetts requires employers with 25 or more covered employees to remit an employer contribution to help fund the program.
As these paid leave programs are all new, time will tell which approach proves the most sustainable and effective. Further, each state’s success may influence other states that are considering creating paid leave programs.
Glenn Duhl is a management-side employment and litigation lawyer at Zangari Cohn Cuthbertson Duhl & Grello P.C. Please visit www.zcclawfirm.com.
The information contained in this article is general in nature and offered for informational purposes only. It is not offered and should not be construed as legal advice.