Connecting with Compliance

This month’s update covers:
• Reporting requirement updates for Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave
• Amendments to the Oregon Paid Family and Medical Leave
• Plus, Accrued Paid Leave updates, important date reminders, and more

This month’s update covers:
• Chicago Paid Leave effective date updates
• Cook County IL accrued leave amendment
• California paid sick leave resources
• 2024 PFML benefit and rate updates and required notices

Updates in State and Local leave legislation and guidance since our August 31 post.

Updates in Federal, State, and Local leave legislation and guidance since our June 9 post.

MMA’s Absence, Disability, and Life Practice and Empathy, a platform for helping families navigate the emotional and logistical challenges of loss, recently partnered to better understand how top employers are supporting their employees in some of life’s most difficult moments – through bereavement and loss. The research conducted sheds light onto the key bereavement care initiatives and comprehensive benefits being offered at today’s top companies.  The findings show the compassion industry-leading companies are showing their workforce, bringing in a new era of bereavement support.

Last month the governor of Minnesota approved several measures impacting employee entitlements to
leave and protections: SF3035 (May 24), Effective July 1, 2023 which amends the current Pregnancy and Parental Leave Act and the state’s “kin care” law and amends current accommodations requirements for pregnant and lactating employees. Effective January 1, 2024, implements Earned Sick and Safe Time, and repeals the kin care law

On May 15 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its technical assistance: What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws. The EEOC maintained this guidance throughout the pandemic and, while much of the content is still relevant with regard to the applicability of anti-discrimination laws, the most recent updates emphasize that employers should not (or, in some cases, may not) automatically abandon certain policies and practices simply because the nationwide COVID-19 public health emergency has officially ended.

While California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) law expired on December 31, 2022, the requirement to provide exclusion pay under Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards remained in place. Effective February 3, 2023 the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) adopted COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations, which do not feature exclusion pay. Visit the DIR’s dedicated webpage for more information on the new regulations.

California’s statewide SPSL requirements expire December 31, 2022. As of today there is no indication that they will be extended or reinstated, especially given the mayor’s October 17 announcement that the state’s COVID-19 State of Emergency will end on February 28, 2023. Any employee on leave as of the law’s expiration date may finish taking leave.

On September 29 the governor of California approved AB152, extending 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) requirements, originally set to expire September 30, through December 31, 2022. This extension does not provide additional leave to employees, it simply extends the time period during which an employee’s existing SPSL balance may be used. Employees taking SPSL as of December 31 may finish taking the full amount of SPSL to which they are entitled. (Please refer to our March 4 Statutory Update and/or our side-by-side comparison for more details.)

Our July 26 Statutory Update included a summary of San Francisco’s Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) Ordinance, which becomes effective October 1, 2022. The new (permanent) law requires employers to inform their employees of their rights to PHEL by posting a notice at each job site in all languages available and, where feasible, by providing it to employees via electronic communication, which may include email, text, and/or posting on the employer’s web- or app-based platform. The city’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OSLE) recently posted the model notice on their PHEL webpage.

On June 7 San Francisco voters approved Proposition G, which permanently adds Article 33F to the San Francisco Police Code and requires employers to make Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) available to their employees effective October 1, 2022. Below are the details outlined in the ordinance; future amendments or clarifications may come by way of regulations or ordinances adopted by the Board of Supervisors.