37. Overpayments

DFML started to send overpayment notices in the summer of 2024. As of May 2025, the only collections action they take is when the entire overpayment can be re-paid through 50% benefit reductions of a currently approved PFML leave. This is fairly rare.

The most common overpayment we have seen is when a pregnant worker is approved for PFML leave based on a medical certification, and then the birth certificate shows the birth was more than 14 days after the start of the medical certification. In that case, DFML automatically shifts the leave start and end dates forward and issues an overpayment for the 2-3 weeks of pre-natal medical leave. This is especially common if the doctor wrote a medical leave start date before the due date, but failed to check the box for “prenatal medical leave.” This auto-date-shift can be appealed and fixed by insisting the medical certification is clear that pre-natal leave is needed, or by obtaining a doctor’s letter clarifying that the worker was advised to stop working on the original leave start date. If the appeals department approves the appeal, the overpayment will be cancelled. 

Overpayments are also common when a worker returns to work early and fails to notify DFML right away. Sometimes, an overpayment will occur when a worker who has recently changed jobs applies for leave with the former employer. That can usually be resolved by filing a new application with the current employer. 

The normal way to voluntarily repay an overpayment is:

• Report: DFML Contact Center at (833) 344-7365
• Repay: mail a check to DFML:
  Department of Paid Family Medical Leave
  PO BOX 411605
  BOSTON MA 02241-1605.

In some cases, DFML may provide notice you can repay online at
https://www.masspays.com/EOL 

Defenses to repayment

The PFML regulations give applicants a strong defense to repayment. 458 C.M.R. 2.15 states: “If the Department finds that an individual received benefits on the basis of a false statement, it may require the individual to repay to the Trust Fund any benefits received.” That statement follows the standard that a false statement was willful “if the individual: 

1. furnishes information that the individual knew, or reasonably should have known, to be incorrect;
2. fails to furnish information that the individual knew or reasonably should have known to be material; or
3. accepts a payment that the individual knew, or reasonably should have known that the individual was not entitled to receive.

There is no application of the “willfully false statement” standard anywhere in the statute or regs. This implies that the requirement to repay benefits received “on the basis of a false statement” only applies if the statement was willful. Otherwise, there would be no need to articulate the “willful” standard before the repayment standard. Of the common overpayment scenarios, only the failure to report an early return to work seems to meet the “willful” standard (prong 2).