As promised and after extensive public hearings and comments, on June 19, 2015, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey issued final regulations on the voter-approved new Sick Time law that take effects on July 1, 2015. Although the June 20, 2015 print article in The Boston Globe sported the headline “Wrinkles in sick-time law ironed out,” questions will still inevitably arise due to the far-reaching and complex nature of employee sick time rights and employer responsibilities under the new Sick Time law. Feel free to call me at 617-872-8648 if you have any of those questions.
One area that has been “ironed out” is the viability of PTO (Paid Time Off) policies going forward in this new regulatory environment. Their status had been unclear under the text of the new law and under the AG’s initial draft regulations.
Section 33.07 of the AG’s final regulations does explicitly allow “true” PTOs. "True” PTOs are benefit policies in which employees are granted paid time off that can be used interchangeably for one of several purposes - such as vacation time, sick time, and/or “personal” time – with any use of time meaning a deduction in the total paid time off available for the future. Employers with such policies can lawfully “substitute” them for earned sick time as long as their PTO provides at least the same amount of total time off with at least the same pay and job protection benefits as the new Sick Time law, as well as “clear” notice about the subtractive effect. With such a PTO, for example, a full-time employee who used up all of his PTO allotment of 40 hours on vacation time earlier during the calendar year would have no claim that he was still entitled to any additional paid sick time.
One area that has been “ironed out” is the viability of PTO (Paid Time Off) policies going forward in this new regulatory environment. Their status had been unclear under the text of the new law and under the AG’s initial draft regulations.
Section 33.07 of the AG’s final regulations does explicitly allow “true” PTOs. "True” PTOs are benefit policies in which employees are granted paid time off that can be used interchangeably for one of several purposes - such as vacation time, sick time, and/or “personal” time – with any use of time meaning a deduction in the total paid time off available for the future. Employers with such policies can lawfully “substitute” them for earned sick time as long as their PTO provides at least the same amount of total time off with at least the same pay and job protection benefits as the new Sick Time law, as well as “clear” notice about the subtractive effect. With such a PTO, for example, a full-time employee who used up all of his PTO allotment of 40 hours on vacation time earlier during the calendar year would have no claim that he was still entitled to any additional paid sick time.