Recently, a new law was passed that offers fathers a total of eight unpaid weeks to spend time with their newborn child. The paternity leave law, which took effect in April 2015, was passed by the former Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, just one day before he left office. The law allows unpaid leave for fathers who have been working full-time for three consecutive months in a company with six or more employees.
This new law is an extension of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which only applies to businesses with 50+ employees and offers unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks. However, with the paternity leave law, employees are offered an eight-week period of leave for each child. That means if you had twins you could have 16 weeks of leave and 24 weeks for triplets.
So what does this mean for small businesses?
If employees are away from the office for up to eight weeks, business owners may need to hire a temp to fill the position or increase the productivity demand on existing employees. This could cause resentment towards the employee on leave, reduce morale and impact the productivity of the business. That’s why it’s important for small business owners to know how the new law will affect their company and their employees.
Check out this recent Boston Business Journal article, for four must-know paternity leave law facts for small business owners.
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Disclaimer: this article does not represent expert advice and is provided for informational purposes. Please get in touch if you would like expert HR advice.
