Quarterly updates regarding employee leave in 2024

As we near the end of the first quarter of 2024, there are some updates to share on Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) and state leave requirements, changes to existing laws, and legislative items that went into effect on 01/01/2024. Read below for the latest information.   

PFML changes:   

Massachusetts PFML – New Private Plan Reporting Requirements - Due by August 31, 2024  

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) has established a new private plan reporting requirement for private plan carriers and self-insured employers to provide required data to DFML for the 2024 fiscal year.    

• The reporting period for the 2024 fiscal year will be July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.    

• DFML will establish a web portal for report submissions which is planned to open online starting July 1, 2024, with a final deadline for submission of August 31, 2024.  

• For fully insured MA PFML private plans, the insurer is responsible for submitting this report, and as such the employer will have no reporting obligation. Guardian will be submitting the report for our MA PFML private plan customers.    

• For self-insured and self-administered MA PFML private plans, the employer will be responsible for submitting the report. If the private plan is self-insured and an insurer or TPA is administering the plan, the employer should consult their administrator regarding report submission.  

 For more details on the reporting requirements, please visit the MA DFML website, Employer Private Plan Reporting Obligations.    

Connecticut PFML – Private Plan Annual Reports Requirements – Due by May 1, 2024    

The Connecticut Paid Leave (CT PL) Authority is required to annually collect and report data on the participation and usage of the CT PFML program, including coverage provided by employers’ private plans (fully-insured and self-insured).   Each year, the Authority will collect and aggregate such information and will report the results on or before July 1, based on the prior calendar year.    

• CT PL Authority released reminder emails on February 6, 2024, to all employers with approved CT PFML private plan programs during the 2023-calendar year to remind them of their upcoming reporting obligations.  

• For 2024, the required data will be for 2023 calendar year activity.   

• The deadline to submit the reports to the CT PL Authority is May 1, 2024.  

• For fully-insured and self-insured private plans administered through a private carrier, the private plan carrier will likely support employers with compiling the required data for the reports, but employers are encouraged to reach out to their private plan carriers to confirm the level of support they will be provided.  

• It is important to note that it is solely the employer’s responsibility to upload the final complied report via their employer account on ctpaidleave.org.  

• Guardian will be supporting our CT PFML private plan customers with these reporting obligations and can expect to receive compiled reports for review and upload in advance of the submission deadline date.  

 For more details on the reporting requirements, please visit the CT PFML website, CT Paid Leave - Private Plan Resources. 

Changes to existing state leave laws:      

California Fair Employment and Housing Act – Reproductive Loss      

On January 1, 2024, Senate Bill 848 went into effect, and amends the CA Fair Employment and Housing act to make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request for unpaid leave by an eligible employee to take up to five days of reproductive loss leave following a reproductive loss event.¹ This law contains the following provisions:      

• Employer Applicability: Employers with five or more employees are covered, as well as the state and any political or civil subdivision of the state, including cities and counties.    

• Employee Eligibility: Employees who are employed by an employer for at least 30 days prior to the start of the leave are eligible.    

• Leave Reasons: Employees may take unpaid leave due to a “reproductive loss event,” which includes an unsuccessful adoption, surrogacy or assisted reproduction, or a miscarriage or stillbirth. An employee can take this leave if they would have been the parent of the child through birth or adoption.   

• Duration of Leave: An employer must permit an employee to take up to 5 days of leave following a reproductive loss event. If an employee experiences more than one reproductive loss event within a 12-month period, an employer must grant up to a total of 20 days of leave within a 12-month period (maximum of five days per occurrence). The employer shall allow the days an employee takes for reproductive loss leave to be nonconsecutive or consecutive. The leave must be completed within 3 months of the reproductive loss event. If the employee takes leave under another law for this purpose, the employee’s leave should be completed within three months of the end date of the other leave.   

• Processing Reproductive Loss Leaves: New Leave Plan “California Compassionate Leave” (i.e. CA Reproductive Leave Loss) was added into LeavePro with an effective date of January 01, 2024.  

 Zachary’s Parent Protection Act Illinois    

On January 1, 2024, Senate Bill 2034, also known as the Child Extended Bereavement Leave Act (CEBLA) became effective. This law provides employees with extended bereavement leave due to the loss of a child as a result of suicide or homicide.     

• Employer Applicability: Employers with 50 or more employees.  

• Leave Reason: Unpaid leave for a parent who experiences the loss of a child due to homicide or suicide.   

• Covered Relationships: Biological, adopted, or foster child, or stepchildren as well as legal wards and children of people legally serving in loco parentis.   

• Eligibility Requirements: Full-time employee who has worked at least two weeks.  

• Leave Mode: Leave can be taken intermittently (required at least four hours) or continuously. Leave must be completed within one year after the employee notifies the employer of the loss.  

• Duration of Leave: An employer with at least 50 but fewer than 250 full-time employees must allow an employee to take up to a maximum of six weeks of unpaid leave. An employer with at least 250 full-time employees must allow an employee to take up to a maximum of 12 weeks of unpaid leave. ²