Massachusetts Paid Leave Calculator: Massachusetts PFML Benefits (2026)

How much does Massachusetts PFML pay in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) pay 80 percent of your individual average weekly wage up to half the state average weekly wage ($961.24), plus 50 percent of the rest, capped at 64 percent of the state average weekly wage, which is $1,230.39 a week in 2026. A worker on $1,500 a week receives about $1,038.37, 69 percent of pay. Benefits run for up to 20 weeks for your own health condition, 12 weeks for family leave, and 26 weeks combined. Waiting period: 7 calendar days, unpaid, at the start of each new application; the days count against the yearly allowance. Employers may let you use PTO to cover them. To qualify you need earnings of at least 30 times your weekly benefit and the annual minimum DFML sets, across Massachusetts employers. The program is funded by a 0.88 percent premium at employers with 25 or more covered individuals, or 0.46 percent, all employee-paid, at smaller ones. The state average weekly wage and the cap reset every January 1. Figures effective January 1, 2026, checked September 14, 2026.

How is the Massachusetts weekly benefit calculated?

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) pay 80 percent of your individual average weekly wage up to half the state average weekly wage ($961.24), plus 50 percent of the rest, capped at 64 percent of the state average weekly wage, which is $1,230.39 a week in 2026. The state works out your average weekly wage from the wages your employers reported for the base period, not from your current pay stub, so a recent raise or a change of hours may not be reflected yet.

Three examples with the current figures. A Massachusetts worker earning $800 a week receives about $640, which is 80 percent of pay. At $1,500 a week the benefit is $1,038.37, or 69 percent. At $3,000 a week it is $1,230.39, because the $1,230.39 weekly maximum applies, or 41 percent. Anyone earning about $1,890 a week or more in Massachusetts receives the maximum, so the share of pay replaced keeps falling as wages rise above that. There is no weekly minimum.

How many weeks does Massachusetts PFML pay?

Up to 20 weeks of medical leave, 12 weeks of family leave (26 weeks to care for a service member), and 26 weeks combined in a benefit year. The calculator caps the weeks you enter at the limit for the leave type you choose and shows the total, so you can see at a glance what 26 weeks would be worth at your wage.

Waiting period: 7 calendar days, unpaid, at the start of each new application; the days count against the yearly allowance. Employers may let you use PTO to cover them. Where a program has an unpaid first week, most employers let you cover it with sick leave or PTO, and several states require them to allow it if you ask.

Who qualifies for Massachusetts PFML?

Earnings in the last four completed calendar quarters of at least 30 times your weekly benefit amount and the annual minimum DFML publishes each year, across all Massachusetts employers.

Who pays for it: 0.88 percent of eligible wages for employers with 25 or more covered individuals (0.18 percent family, 0.70 percent medical, with employers paying at least 60 percent of the medical share); 0.46 percent, fully deductible from employees, for smaller employers. The benefit itself comes from the state fund or an approved private plan, not from your employer's payroll, which is why it continues if you change jobs during the base period and why it is separate from any company parental or sick leave you also have.

Is your job protected while you receive Massachusetts PFML?

PFML itself protects the job: you must be restored to the same or an equivalent position after leave, regardless of employer size or tenure.

The state job-protection law that applies in Massachusetts: Parental Leave Act: 8 weeks per child, employers with 6 or more (M.G.L. c. 149, 105D). PFML carries job restoration. The federal FMLA adds 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for employees with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours at an employer with 50 or more employees, and where both apply the paid benefit and the FMLA run at the same time rather than back to back.

When do the Massachusetts figures change?

The state average weekly wage ($1,922.48 for 2026) and the cap reset every January 1; DFML uses the figures of the calendar year in which your benefit year starts. The figures on this page took effect on January 1, 2026 and were checked on September 14, 2026 against the amounts published by Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML). Statute: M.G.L. Chapter 175M.