Key Takeaways:
- On September 13, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled that the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act, G.L. c. 175M (“PFMLA” or the “Act”), does not require that employees continue to accrue benefits such as vacation, sick leave, and length-of-service credit while on PFMLA leave.
- Instead, the PFMLA guarantees only that PFMLA leave not result in any loss of accrued benefits and requires that employees be restored upon their return to work to the same position they were in prior to taking leave—including the same or similar role and the same benefits..
- Employers are not prohibited from allowing employees to accrue benefits while on PFMLA leave if they choose to do so.
In its September 13, 2024 decision in Bodge et al. v.
Commonwealth et al., SJC-13567 (2024), the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled that an
employer's policy of denying the accrual of certain benefits
to employees while they are on PFMLA leave did not violate the Act.
As such, employers are under no obligation to allow employees on
PFMLA leave to continue to accrue benefits such as vacation, sick
leave, and length-of-service credit during their leave.
The Bodge plaintiffs, a putative class of
Massachusetts state troopers, filed suit in Superior Court against
the Commonwealth, the heads of the State Police, and the State
Board of Retirement (collectively, “Defendants”),
claiming that Defendants' policy of denying the accrual of
benefits—including seniority, length-of-service credit, and
vacation and sick time—while on PFMLA leave was a violation
of the Act. Plaintiffs' argument focused on Section 2(f) of
the Act, which states that “the taking of [PFMLA] leave shall
not affect an employee's right to accrue” benefits such
as vacation time, sick leave, and length-of-service credit.
Plaintiffs contended that unless they continued to accrue these
benefits while on PFMLA leave their rights to accrue leave would be
“affected” in violation of the Act. Plaintiffs also
argued that denying the accrual of benefits while on leave would
violate Section 9 of the Act, which creates a presumption of
retaliation for “[a]ny negative change” in any
“condition of employment” that occurs while the
employee is on PFMLA leave or immediately after the
employee's return. Defendants moved to dismiss the
plaintiff's suit.
The Superior Court granted Defendants' motion as to
plaintiffs' claim that denying the accrual of benefits during
PFMLA leave violates the Act. The Superior Court stayed the
proceedings, however, to allow plaintiffs to seek clarification
from the Appeals Court regarding the interpretation of the PFMLA.
The SJC transferred the case for its review sua
sponte.
The SJC upheld the dismissal of the PFMLA claims, concluding that
the language of the PFMLA does not guarantee employees the right to
accrue benefits like seniority, length-of-service credit, and sick
and vacation time during their leave. Clarifying the statutory
language in Section 2(f), the SJC explained that while taking leave
“shall not affect an employee's right to accrue”
benefits, Section 2(f) does not confer accrual rights where none
existed. Indeed, where the legislature intended to provide for
accrual of certain benefits during PFMLA leave it did so: Section
2(f) specifies that employees do continue to
benefit from health insurance during PFMLA leave, thereby drawing a
distinction between health insurance benefits and all other
benefits.
Moreover, the SJC determined that adopting plaintiffs'
reading of Section 2(f) would create an “internal
contradiction” in the PFMLA, as Section 2(e) makes clear that
the level of benefits remains unchanged during PFMLA leave. Section
2(e) states that an employee returning from leave receives no less
(and no more) of each enumerated benefit than what he or she had at
the start of the leave. The employee must only be “restored
to the employee's previous position or to an equivalent
position with the same status, pay, employment benefits,
length-of-service credit and seniority as of the date of
leave.” Under the plaintiffs' reading of Section 2(f),
the SJC explained, employees would accrue vacation and sick time
while on leave and, thus, would return from leave with more accrued
time than when they began. The SJC refused to adopt such an
interpretation and confirmed that the PFMLA guarantees only that
employees will be “restored” to the same position they
were in prior to taking leave—including the same or similar
role and the same benefits.
The SJC also rejected plaintiffs' contention that the denial
of benefit accrual while on leave would constitute a
“negative change” in an employee's benefits and
contravene Section 9 of the Act. The SJC concluded that a
“temporary pausing of benefit accrual” during leave did
not constitute a negative change for the purposes of PFMLA.
The Bodge decision provides employers and
employees with clarity as to the protections provided to employees
on PFMLA leave and allows employers to set expectations with their
workforce as to the effects of taking PFMLA leave. Employees may
take PFMLA leave without concern that they will lose any accrued
benefits but should not expect that they will accrue benefits
during their PFMLA leave. However, the SJC explicitly
confirmed in the Bodge decision that its
interpretation of the PFMLA does not prevent employers from
offering the accrual of benefits during leave.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.