Effective April 7, 2015, Massachusetts employers with six or more employees will be required to provide all employees, male and female, with up to eight weeks of unpaid parental leave. The new statute replaces the maternity leave act, which applied only to women, and permits any employee, male or female, to take 8 weeks of unpaid “parental leave” for the purpose of giving birth, or for the placement of a child for adoption or the placement of a child pursuant to court order.