Last summer, Governor Baker signed “An Act Relative to Minimum Wage, Paid Family Medical Leave, and the Sales Tax Holiday” (H.4640), which in part created a new Paid Family and Medical Leave program in the Commonwealth. We provided further program details in a previous post.
The program was slated to be funded by a payroll tax on employers starting July 1, 2019. Under the Act, the Department of Family and Medical Leave would collect a 0.63% payroll tax on employers to fund the estimated $800 million Paid Family and Medical Leave program.
However, the Governor and state legislators have recently confirmed a three-month delay in the implementation of the program. The extension delays employer contributions until October 1, 2019 and gives employers more time to understand the rules and inform its employees.