Under pressure from business groups, Governor Baker and the leadership of the Massachusetts Legislature have announced an agreement to postpone the start of the new Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave ("PFML") law by three months (from July 1 to October 1).

While concrete details remain sparse, the agreement seems to involve:

• The eventual adoption of technical clarifications. This may include a combination of legislation and regulations.
• An increase in the contribution rate from 0.63% total to 0.75% total. Precisely how long this will last is not clear but the idea seems to be to fill the State coffers for benefits commencing January 1, 2021.

Additional information about the new law can be found in our earlier advisory.