Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, along with state house and senate leadership, just announced that they had agreed to implement a three-month delay to the Commonwealth's robust Paid Family and Medical Leave program late on Tuesday. In a joint release, the leaders stated:
To ensure that businesses have adequate time to implement the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave program, the House, Senate, and Administration have agreed to adopt a three-month delay to the start of the required contributions to the program. We will also adopt technical changes to clarify program design. We look forward to the successful implementation of this program this fall.
While the legislature will need to pass an emergency bill before the delay is official, this announcement is welcome news for employers scrambling to comply with what was supposed to be a July 1 contribution start date. Instead, employers will not have to make the required contributions until October 1.
The three months will also provide government administrators time to finalize the pending draft regulations, for insurers to create private insurance plans for the "private exemption" envisioned by the law, and for lawmakers and regulators to eliminate the overall state of confusion surrounding the paid leave program.
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