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Pattie advises Rhode Island-based attorney Matthew Parker
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Q: I own a business in Massachusetts. We are on the Rhode Island border so many of our employees live in RI but work in MA. Nobody could give me a straight answer. Can these RI citizens attend the PFML fair? Or do you take part in the program in RIPFML? HELP! We want to do the right thing, but there is confusion.
A: Your question is timely as the Massachusetts family paid medical leave benefits came into effect earlier this year. Additionally, the rise in remote working (and employees returning to their parents’ house, seasonal home, or cousin) has added additional interest in this question.
As you have likely learned, an employee does not have to be a Massachusetts resident to be eligible for Massachusetts PFML benefits. I consulted Matthew Parker, an employment lawyer with Whelan Corrente & Flanders LLP in Providence, Rhode Island, to clarify interstate rules for us.
In brief, Parker advises that if (a) the employees are primarily working in MA, to the point where only temporary work occurs outside of MA; (b) their base of operations (or control center) is in MA; or (c) they have no operating base but they live in MA, they may be eligible for MA PFML. In other words, they are not required to be MA residents. In your situation, it looks like your Rhode Island-based employees work for a Massachusetts-based facility, so they may be eligible based on their MA earnings.
Parker references the MA PFML regulations and shares the “Financial Aptitude Test” that will guide the determination. Their eligibility ultimately depends on whether they earn enough wages related to MA services to pass the “Financial Aptitude Test”, but that decision is made by the Commonwealth when they apply. As a reference, “financial proficiency test” is defined as:
Proof that the individual has received total employee wages or covered contract worker payments from Massachusetts employers or Massachusetts insured companies equal to or equal to 30 times the total of 458 CMR in the 12 months prior to applying for departmental benefits 2.12, and are not less than the annual dollar amount calculated by the Massachusetts Department of Amployment Assistance in accordance with the MGL. c. 151A, § 24 (a). The wages received from multiple employers or insured companies during the base period can be aggregated to determine financial vacation entitlement.
For 2021, that means they must have made at least $ 5,400 in MA in the past four quarters.
In your situation, if you have an employee who lives in RI, works in MA, and has made over $ 5,400 in the previous four quarters, they may be eligible for PFML.
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