| 1 | 1 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2562 |
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| 2 | 2 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 3 | 3 | | _______________ |
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| 4 | 4 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 5 | 5 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 6 | 6 | | _______________ |
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| 7 | 7 | | SENATE, January 22, 2024. |
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| 8 | 8 | | The committee on Labor and Workforce Development, to whom was referred the |
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| 9 | 9 | | petitions (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1145) of Michael J. Barrett and Sean Garballey for |
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| 10 | 10 | | legislation to ensure bereavement leave; (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1205) of Liz Miranda |
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| 11 | 11 | | and Lydia Edwards for legislation relative to bereavement leave; (accompanied by bill, House, |
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| 12 | 12 | | No. 1879) of Sean Garballey, David M. Rogers and others relative to bereavement leave under |
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| 13 | 13 | | the family and medical leave act; and (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1961) of Christopher J. |
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| 14 | 14 | | Worrell relative to bereavement leave, report the accompanying bill (Senate, No. 2562). |
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| 15 | 15 | | For the committee, |
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| 16 | 16 | | Patricia D. Jehlen 1 of 2 |
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| 17 | 17 | | FILED ON: 1/17/2024 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2562 |
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| 19 | 19 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 20 | 20 | | _______________ |
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| 21 | 21 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 22 | 22 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 23 | 23 | | _______________ |
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| 24 | 24 | | An Act relative to bereavement leave. |
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| 25 | 25 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 26 | 26 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 27 | 27 | | 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, |
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| 28 | 28 | | 2is hereby amended by inserting after Section 52E, the following section:- |
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| 29 | 29 | | 3 Section 52F. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following |
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| 30 | 30 | | 4meanings:- |
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| 31 | 31 | | 5 “Bereavement”, leave from employment taken to grieve or make arrangements |
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| 32 | 32 | | 6necessitated by the death of a family member. |
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| 33 | 33 | | 7 “Family member,” the child, parent, guardian, sibling, spouse or person in a substantive |
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| 34 | 34 | | 8dating or engagement relationship with an employee and who resides with that employee. |
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| 35 | 35 | | 9 (b) An employer shall permit an employee to take bereavement leave following the death |
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| 36 | 36 | | 10of a family member for up to 10 business days, used consecutively or non-consecutively, within |
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| 37 | 37 | | 11any 12 month period to: |
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| 38 | 38 | | 12 (1) Make arrangements necessitated by the death of the family member, including, but 2 of 2 |
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| 39 | 39 | | 13 not limited to, funeral arrangements, estate preparation, or other legal arrangements; |
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| 40 | 40 | | 14 (2) Attend the funeral or equivalent to a funeral of a family member; or |
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| 41 | 41 | | 15 (3) Grieve the death of a family member. |
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| 42 | 42 | | 16 (c) Leave permitted under this section must be initiated within 30 days of the date on |
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| 43 | 43 | | 17which an employee receives notice of the death of a family member. |
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| 44 | 44 | | 18 (d) An employer shall have the sole discretion to determine whether any leave taken |
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| 45 | 45 | | 19under this section shall be paid or unpaid. |
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| 46 | 46 | | 20 (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to affect any bargaining agreement, |
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| 47 | 47 | | 21company policy, or other federal, state, or municipal law which provides for greater or additional |
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| 48 | 48 | | 22rights to leave than those provided for by this section. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 23 (f) An employer may require documentation from an employee taking leave to deal with |
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| 50 | 50 | | 24the death of a family member for any of the reasons specified in subsection (b). An employee can |
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| 51 | 51 | | 25provide the employer any of the following documents to satisfy the request: (i) the name of the |
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| 52 | 52 | | 26deceased, the date of death, the city of death and the employee’s relationship to the deceased; (ii) |
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| 53 | 53 | | 27a copy of the deceased’s obituary or funeral program and the employee’s relationship to the |
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| 54 | 54 | | 28deceased; (iii) a copy of a police report involving the deceased; (iv) a copy of the death |
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| 55 | 55 | | 29certificate; or (v) a document issued by the mental health care provider of the employee. |
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| 56 | 56 | | 30 (g) Notwithstanding subsection (b), an employer employing fewer than 25 employees in |
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| 57 | 57 | | 31the commonwealth shall not be required to comply with this section. |
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| 58 | 58 | | 32 SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2025. |
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