Join us for our installment of the Pacesetters Doing Business series featuring Mass General Brigham on August 7, 2025.
08/07/2025
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Virtual
The BIMA Summer Sizzler is a chance to network with your digital media industry peers from the agency, publisher, and adtech community!
08/14/2025
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Fenway Park
Enjoy networking with fellow members and hear from Chamber Staff on how to best leverage your Membership to achieve your business goals.
09/09/2025
3:00pm - 4:30pm
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
This program is in redevelopment. Click this page for DEI resources.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
In this highly interactive workshop with Strategic Career & Leadership Coach Carole-Ann Penney, you’ll define your professional identity and develop strategies to confidently navigate workplace dynamics.
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For over 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
July 22, 2025
Dear Chair McMurtry and Chair Oliveira,
On behalf of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and our over 1,200 members, I write to offer testimony in opposition to H.2109/S.1352, “An Act amending the Massachusetts paid family medical leave law definitions of a covered business entity and a covered contract worker” filed by Representative Gordon and Senator Lewis. As a major stakeholder involved in the negotiations that created the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program through the “Grand Bargain,” the Chamber opposes any changes to the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Program to expand eligibility without input from employers. Importantly, the proposed change will insert unnecessary confusion and complexity into the Paid Leave Program at a time when contribution rates are already increasing.
The proposed legislation seeks to alter the eligibility process for the Commonwealth’s PFML program for contract workers by replacing the review of IRS 1099-MISC Forms with the state’s three-part test for independent contractors. The Commonwealth’s existing statutes for independent contractors are ambiguous, leading to confusion and exacerbating misclassification issues. Relying on the three-part test would complicate and create uncertainty in the eligibility process for employers – and exposes employers to case-by-case determinations instead of the current straightforward eligibility process.
There are existing resources for independent contractors to enroll in the Commonwealth’s PFML program. Any self-employed individuals, including independent contractors who work for an employer with a workforce made up of less than 50% of a business’s workforce, can opt into the PFML program. Employees are also able to work with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Divisions if they are misclassified for remedial action. To the extent Massachusetts is interested in revisiting its test for determining an independent contractor, the Chamber believes a clearer test that embraces the role on independent contractors in Massachusetts and simplifies the definitions is overdue. However, that topic necessitates a longer and more in-depth conversation with all stakeholders involved.
In 2018, legislators convened stakeholders from the labor and business communities to compromise on proposals related to the minimum wage, sales tax, PFML and other policy issues. The resulting Grand Bargain Agreement is representative of that process, and any changes would necessitate a similar convening of stakeholders. More importantly, it should be recognized that the specifics of the Grand Bargain agreement were the result of intense negotiations and altering key definitions or other aspects of the law undermine the collaborative work among employers, unions, and advocacy organizations that resulted in Chapter 175M.
For the reasons listed above, we are opposed to H.2109/S.1352 and would urge the Committee to not report the legislation out favorably.
Sincerely,
James E. Rooney President and CEO
Popular Resources