24. Is my benefit amount correct?
Weekly Benefit Amount (WBA) is between 65% and 80% of usual earnings. If workers are approved for a WBA that seems too low, you can appeal the approval. The scenarios below are common examples of DFML calculating the wrong benefit amount.
More than one current employer
An applicant must submit a separate application for each job from which they are taking leave. Each application will only pay benefits based on wages from that employer. DFML calls these employers “concurrent employers.” Even if the job is part-time and they have not worked there in months, as long as you are technically still employed, that counts as a current employer and the worker must submit a separate application to get the right WBA.
Former employers in the past year
DFML allows recent job-changers to use wages from a former employer to bump up the benefit amount. However, the application does not collect enough information for DFML to consistently or automatically provide this bump up. If workers appeal the weekly benefit amount and notify the appeals department that they have been at the current job for less than 26 weeks of the leave start date, then DFML will use wages from the former employer to raise the WBA.
DFML does not allow use of wages from former employers to bump up the benefit amount when the worker has been with their current employment for 26 weeks or longer. This is an active area of litigation, because the statute says that a worker’s Weekly Benefit Amount should be based on “total wages reported for the individual in the two highest quarters of the base period.” Total means all. DFML's 26-week exclusion rule has no statutory basis.
Lag in wage reporting
Employers have 30 days from the end of a calendar quarter to report wages to DFML. These reports are due on January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31. This means that for a leave that starts in January, April, July, or October, DFML most likely will not have access to wages from the most recent calendar quarter at the time you apply for benefits. So, the benefit amount may be wrong.
Benefits are based on earnings in the two highest-earning completed calendar quarters in the year preceding your leave start date (unless the worker applies and asks the Alternate Base Period be used, see Question 17 above). If one of a worker’s two highest-earning quarters is the most recent quarter, you can appeal the benefit amount. Then, submit proof of wages (such as a paystub from the end of March, June, September, or December). If they don’t have a paystub, workers can ask the Appeals department to check if the employer has reported the wages yet.
Missing Wages
Sometimes employers fail to report wages to DFML. Out of state Employers may report the wages to another state in error. Employers may also mistakenly report the wages under an SSN with a typo, or an ITIN the worker is no longer using. The last page of the approval or denial notice has a table of all wages on file for that worker. If they earned wages that are not shown in the table, workers can appeal the benefit amount or denial and provide proof of the wages.
Missing wages are common for misclassified and mislocalized workers. If a worker is legally an employee of a Massachusetts Employer, but the employer misclassifies them as an independent contractor or as their work being localized elsewhere, then the worker will have no wages on file and will have to appeal, provide proof of earnings, and argue that they are really a Massachusetts employee and the employer should have been paying PFML contributions (See Section 19). Workers who wish to challenge their misclassification and mislocalization should contact GBLS.
Alternate Base Period
A worker may use the alternate base period to increase her benefit amount as explained in Section 17 above. The alternate base period is the last three completed calendar quarters, plus the incomplete calendar quarter in which the leave starts. If using wages from the incomplete calendar quarter would increase benefits by at least 10%, then DFML allows it. The employer will not have yet reported these wages, so the worker has to appeal and provide proof of the earnings (such as the last paystub from right before the PFML leave starts).
The most common use of the Alternate Base Period is to make an ineligible worker financially eligible for benefits. This is often the case for workers who have not been in the Massachusetts workforce for very long. If the worker is not financially eligible for benefits using wages from the last four completed calendar quarters (standard base period), they can appeal and use wages from the alternate base period to become financially eligible.