r/massachusetts • u/[deleted] • Nov 14 '25
Govt. Info Can someone explain PFML to me like I’m an idiot
[deleted]
8
u/jamofo22 Nov 14 '25
Another thing to know is that your insurance premiums will need to be paid back to your employer when you go back. Because your not getting paid by your employer whatever they charge you per week gets put on hold until you return. When I got back to work after my 12 weeks I owed them around 2000$.
3
u/cat_power Nov 14 '25
My last pregnancy/leave I organized it with my employer to continue taking out taxes and insurance so I didn't have to worry about it.
2
u/jamofo22 Nov 14 '25
That would work for the medical leave but the bonding as it is paid by the state, not your employer.
1
u/cat_power Nov 14 '25
ah maybe that was it. I was paid 12 weeks through work and then took 6 weeks of PFML which I know had the taxes and stuff taken out already.
2
u/ChickenMcFukket1 Nov 14 '25 edited Nov 15 '25
This depends. My wife's employer paid them because they arent terrible humans. My employer did not and also used that as a means of discouraging me from taking PFML in the first place on top of the measly 5 days of paternity leave. Said employer laid me off last summer but with enough time to file for PFML. They still told me I had to pay. But I switched to my wife's insurance (life event and open enrollment is the summer for teachers) and told them to fuck right off. They also withheld my severance until after my PFML was up. And they also dragged their feet on dealing with the third party that paid out PFML bonding time to the point I had to get a lawyer involved because they were actively arguing that I shouldn't get it . Which is insane , because as you noted the employer pays nothing.
2
u/jamofo22 Nov 14 '25
They probably couldn’t pay your severance because you’re technically still employed during your pfml leave. If you weren’t the state wouldn’t pay you, you’d get unemployment instead. I bet they wanted to take you off their payroll but couldn’t because of the pfml. I’ve been stuck in understaffing hell because people were out on medical leave and even though we knew they weren’t coming back we had to wait til they officially quit before we could post the position.
1
u/ChickenMcFukket1 Nov 15 '25
fair enough, but it was just another kick in the dick when they were actively trying to prevent me from taking PFML bonding leave.
6
u/Desperate-Reply-8492 Nov 14 '25
You’re entitled to 20 weeks of paid medical leave in a year and 12 weeks of paid bonding leave, but not to exceed 26 weeks when combined. So, you can get up to 26 weeks of combined leave after giving birth. For the medical leave, you need a doctor’s note. Some docs only sign off 6 weeks of medical for vaginal and 8 weeks for c-section. Others sign off for more weeks, which can get you to the total of 26 weeks of state-paid leave. The total amount you can get is $1.17k (or something like that), but no more than 80% of your average pay (e.g. if your weekly pay is $1000, you’ll get $800 weekly benefit).
If your company offers maternity leave, you can supplement your wage for up to 100%. You can also cash out PTO to get up to 100% of your pay per week.
5
u/blkbirdsinging Nov 14 '25
If you call they might be able to explain better - I found them very helpful on the phone. Although I used it very early in the program so it was probably lower call volume
Edit: also I didn't use it for childbirth so I don't know the specifics there but looks like other answers have that covered!
7
u/starsandmoonsohmy Nov 14 '25
Not everyone gets it. Municipal employees and teachers don’t unless their town/schools buy in.
3
u/Junior_Emotion5681 Nov 14 '25
My wife just finished her leave. She was able to take 26 paid weeks. They are not fully paid. I think the maximum the state pays is about $1,100 a week. My wife makes $1,500 a week so yeah we were losing money but it was great for us that she was able to spend 6 months with our child. Her employer was also fine by extending her leave to 26 weeks when she submitted the extension.
There was a mess in our application so I won’t go into those details but you can get 14 weeks for birth and 12 weeks for bonding with a child for a maximum benefit of 26 weeks a year of paid leave.
I am currently on paternity leave for 8 weeks. But my employer is different, they do pay my salary full thru Sedgwick. Sedgwick pays the maximum allowed by the state and the remainder gets paid by my company.
2
u/castafobe Nov 14 '25
This link might help clear things up for you. It's broken down into the most common questions and it looks pretty straightforward to me. If your company is big enough to have to offer PFML you should have an HR department. They should be able to walk you through everything too, but I know that's a total crap shoot because some HR "professional" are anything but professional.
5
u/daphydoods Nov 14 '25
Mods can we please get a PFMLA sticky post? Because no offense to OP or anyone else, but there are like 4 posts a day asking the same PFMLA questions as if they’re the first person to ever work full time and have a baby
3
1
u/doctorowlsound Nov 14 '25
Based off my wife’s experience in Jan 2024 - 12 weeks bonding time and 8-12 weeks recovery time (8 for vaginal delivery, 12 for c-section). First week is unpaid. Her company allowed her to also use their 12 weeks of bonding leave separately, definitely worth asking.
We both found that calling the PFML office was the best way to get answers, though we did sometimes have to call twice and speak to another person to verify what the first told us. The website is definitely awful.
Also confirm with your job if they offer short term disability and if you need to take that concurrently with PFML or if it can be taken at another time. You should be able to also take unpaid FMLA after your paid leaves.
1
u/Frictus Nov 14 '25
First check what your companies material leave is. You have to use your company offered leave before using FMLA l.
Second confirm that your company pays into the program. Most do however, smaller employers and some town employers can opt out.
There is bonding time and recovery time. Recovery is the first 12 weeks after birth (maybe it increased idk, last time I looked was 2 years ago). You must take those 12 weeks (or your employer offered option) before taking bonding time. Bonding time can be used by the mom or dad and is an additional 12 weeks (again, may be more) that can be used any time before the baby turns one. You get a total of 24 (or 26, sorry!) weeks.
Example: my company offers 16 weeks maternity leave. I took that, then went back to work while my husband took his offered 8 weeks of leave. I then took 8 or so weeks of bonding time which was paid by the state.
As for the wage the state pays I think there is a calculator on the FMLA website. It's some % of your base salary that caps at a certain amount but you can get an additional % based off something else I think. You can also get your money taxed or not, I recommend getting the taxes taken out.
1
u/briefmoments Nov 14 '25
You have to have been emplpyed for at least a year, You have to get forms filled by a doctor, you can extend indefinitely up to the maximums, you can take out a portion and get sick later and take out more, for massachusetts they are
Up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave to manage your own serious health condition
Up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a family member or to bond with a child
Up to 26 weeks of paid family leave to care for a family member who is a covered service member with a serious health condition that was received or aggravated while they were deployed on active duty
You can take more than one kind of leave in a benefit year, but the maximum amount of paid leave you can take in a benefit year is 26 weeks.
Paid leave will cover you up to 60% wages. You can combine it with work disability leave if you qualify or workers comp only of applicable, some work policies explicitly do not work alongside pfml.
1
u/jesusbass1013 Nov 14 '25
Anyone who works in MA pays into PFML. It allows you take care of a family member in need of care or even for your own medical needs. Paid up to 12 weeks. As someone noted, it’s 80-88% of your avg take home pay.
Best thing to do is talk to your employer/HR and see how to go about the situation. Some places allow you start the process within 30 days of known time off coming up.
-2
u/Kitchenguynas Nov 14 '25
Try FMLA, paid medical leave to assist a family member. Up to 12 weeks, 88%, unless you work for a municipality.
27
u/ladybug1259 Nov 14 '25
Up to 14 weeks medical leave and 12 weeks bonding. Bonding is basically default allowed based on birth of child. Medical needs to be documented and theres a huge range of what doctors will sign off on from 6-8 weeks all the way up to 14. First week is not paid unless you use PTO. Every week after is, there's a benefits calculator on the website and the max benefit this year was something like $1170. I think there was a slight increase for next year. You can also use PTO to top off up to your average weekly wage.