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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2124 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2364
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Bruce J. Ayers
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act providing safeguards for home healthcare workers.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Bruce J. Ayers1st Norfolk1/15/2025James C. Arena-DeRosa8th Middlesex2/14/2025Michael D. BradySecond Plymouth and Norfolk3/5/2025 1 of 8
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2124 FILED ON: 1/15/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2364
By Representative Ayers of Quincy, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2364) of Bruce
J. Ayers, James C. Arena-DeRosa and Michael D. Brady for legislation to further regulate annual
workplace safety training for home healthcare workers. Public Health.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2128 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
_______________
An Act providing safeguards for home healthcare workers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition,
2is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
3 Section XX: (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context
4clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-
5 “Home healthcare employer” any agency or organization employing home healthcare
6workers.
7 “Home healthcare worker” an individual who provides healthcare services in the home,
8including but not limited to, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. 2 of 8
9 “Workplace Violence”, conduct at the work site that is: (i) an unpermitted or harmful
10touching of another person; (ii) an attempt or act to use some degree of physical force on another
11person; or (iii) engaging in conduct that could be reasonably perceived as an intent to touch
12without permission, use immediate physical force or injure a particular person now or in the
13future, that if carried out would constitute a crime, and causes another person to reasonably
14believe that the person has the intent and ability to carry out such conduct.
15 (b) Home healthcare employers shall provide annual comprehensive workplace safety
16training to all home healthcare workers. Employee training shall include methods of reporting to
17appropriate public safety officials, bodies or agencies and processes necessary for the filing of
18criminal charges.
19 (c) each healthcare employer shall have develop and implement a program to minimize
20the danger of workplace violence to home healthcare workers, which shall include appropriate
21employee training, communication plans to ensure healthcare worker safety and a system for the
22ongoing reporting and monitoring of incidents and situations involving violence or the risk of
23violence.
24 (d) prior to the provision of services by a home healthcare worker, a home healthcare
25employer shall conduct a safety assessment of any setting in which home healthcare services are
26to be provided. This assessment shall include, but not be limited to (i) the patient’s current
27psychiatric, psychological, cognitive and emotional status, (ii) any patient history of violent
28behavior, (iii) any patient history of substance use disorder, (iv) the presence or anticipated
29presence of any other individual or individuals and any history of violent behavior associated 3 of 8
30with said individual or individuals, and (v) the presence of any weapons and how they are
31secured.
32 (e) the safety assessment shall be used to develop or modify the delivery of home
33healthcare services to meet both patient needs and home healthcare worker safety.
34 (f) home healthcare employers shall provide home healthcare workers with cellular
35phones or other two-way communication devices and hand-held alarms or noise devices for use
36during home healthcare visits.
37 (f) Home healthcare workers shall be permitted refuse to do provide services in any
38situation where the home healthcare worker has (i) where possible, requested a home healthcare
39employer to eliminate the danger previously and (ii) genuinely believes an imminent danger
40exists. Home healthcare workers shall not face a loss of compensation nor disciplinary action for
41refusing services if these conditions are met.
42 (g) Each home healthcare employer shall designate a senior manager responsible for the
43development and support of an in-house crisis response team for home healthcare worker-victims
44of workplace violence. Said team shall implement an assaulted staff action program that
45includes, but is not limited to, group crisis interventions, individual crisis counseling, staff
46victims’ support groups, home healthcare worker victims’ family crisis intervention, peer-help
47and professional referrals.
48 (h) Any home healthcare employer who violates any rule, regulation or requirement made
49by the department under authority hereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 for
50each violation. The department or its representative or any aggrieved employee, any interested
51party or any officer of any labor union or association, whether incorporated or otherwise, may 4 of 8
52file a written complaint with the district court in the jurisdiction of which the violation occurs
53and shall promptly notify the attorney general in writing of such complaint. The attorney general,
54upon determination that there is a violation of any workplace standard relative to the protection
55of the occupational health and safety of employees or of any standard of requirement of
56licensure, may order any work site to be closed by way of the issuance of a cease and desist order
57enforceable in the appropriate courts of the commonwealth.
58 (i) No home healthcare worker shall be penalized by a home healthcare employer in any
59way as a result of such worker’s filing of a complaint or otherwise providing notice to the
60department in regard to the occupational health and safety of such home healthcare worker or
61their fellow home healthcare workers exposed to workplace violence risk factors.
62 (j) Not less than every 180 days, each home healthcare employer shall submit a report, on
63a form prescribed by the commissioner of the department, of all incidents of workplace violence
64reported to the home healthcare employer that involved a home healthcare worker. The report
65shall be submitted to the department and the office of the district attorney for the county where
66the incident occurred . Not more than 90 days after receiving the reports, the department shall
67make the aggregate data statewide and by county publicly available; provided that the
68department categorize the aggregate data by occupation and incident type.
69 SECTION 2. Chapter 149 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after
70section 52E the following section:-
71 (a)Section 52F. (As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context
72clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:- 5 of 8
73 “Home healthcare employer” any agency or organization employing home healthcare
74workers.
75 “Home healthcare worker” an individual who provides healthcare services in the home,
76including but not limited to, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists.
77 (b) A home healthcare employer shall permit home healthcare workers to take up to 7
78days of leave from work in any 12 month period if: (i) the home healthcare worker is a victim of
79an assault or assault and battery which occurred in the line of duty and (ii) the home healthcare
80worker uses the leave to seek or obtain victim services or legal assistance; obtain a protective
81order from a court; appear in court or before a grand jury; meet with a district attorney or other
82law enforcement official; or to address other legal issues directly related to the assault or assault
83and battery.
84 (c) The leave taken pursuant to subsection (b) shall be paid.
85 (d) A home healthcare employer may require a home healthcare worker to provide
86documentation evidencing that the home healthcare worker is a victim of assault or assault and
87battery sustained in the line of duty and that the leave taken is consistent with the conditions of
88subsection (b). A home healthcare worker shall provide such documentation to the home
89healthcare employer within 5 business days after the home healthcare employer requests
90documentation relative to the home healthcare worker’s absence.
91 (e) A home healthcare worker seeking leave from work pursuant to subsection (b) shall
92provide advance notice of the leave to the home healthcare employer in accordance with the
93employer's leave policy; provided, however, that if a home healthcare worker is absent on an
94unauthorized basis, the home healthcare employer shall not take any negative action against the 6 of 8
95home healthcare worker if the home healthcare worker, within 30 days from the unauthorized
96absence or within 30 days from the last unauthorized absence in the instance of consecutive days
97of unauthorized absences, provides documentation that the unauthorized absence meets the
98criteria of subsection (b).
99 (f) All information related to the home healthcare worker’s leave taken pursuant to this
100section shall be kept confidential by the home healthcare employer and shall not be disclosed,
101except to the extent that disclosure is: (i) requested or consented to, in writing, by the home
102healthcare worker; (ii) ordered to be released by a court of competent jurisdiction; (iii) required
103by federal or state law; (iv) required in the course of an investigation authorized by law
104enforcement, including, but not limited to, an investigation by the attorney general; or (v)
105necessary to protect the safety of the home healthcare worker or others employed at the
106workplace.
107 (g) No home healthcare employer shall require a home healthcare worker to exhaust all
108annual leave, vacation leave, personal leave or sick leave available to the home healthcare
109worker prior to requesting or taking leave under this section.
110 (h) No home healthcare employer shall coerce, interfere with, restrain or deny the
111exercise of, or any attempt to exercise, any rights provided by this section or to make leave
112requested or taken hereunder contingent upon whether or not the victim maintains contact with
113the alleged abuser.
114 (i) No home healthcare employer shall discharge or in any other manner discriminate
115against an home healthcare worker for exercising the home healthcare worker’s rights under this
116section. A home healthcare worker who takes leave under this section shall not lose any 7 of 8
117employment benefit accrued prior to the date on which the leave taken under this section
118commenced as a result of taking said leave. Upon the home healthcare worker’s return from said
119leave, the home healthcare worker shall be entitled to restoration to the home healthcare
120worker’s original job or to an equivalent position.
121 (j) Each home healthcare employer shall post in a conspicuous place accessible by home
122healthcare workers a notice prepared or approved by the department indicating the rights and
123responsibilities provided by this section. The notice shall be issued in English, Spanish, Chinese,
124Haitian Creole, Italian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Khmer, Russian and any other
125language that is the primary language of at least 10,000 or ½ of one per cent of all residents of
126the commonwealth. The required workplace notice shall be in English and each language other
127than English which is the primary language of 5 or more home healthcare workers or self-
128employed individuals of that workplace, if such notice is available from the department. Each
129home healthcare employer shall notify each home healthcare worker not more than 30 days from
130the beginning date of the home healthcare worker’s employment, the rights and responsibilities
131provided by this section, including those related to notification requirements and confidentiality.
132 (k) This section shall not be construed to exempt an employer from complying with
133chapter 258B, section 14B of chapter 268 or any other general or special law or to limit the rights
134of any home healthcare worker under said chapter 258B, said section 14B of chapter 268 or any
135other general or special law.
136 SECTION 3. Section 13I of chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
137Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:- 8 of 8
138 Any home healthcare worker who is the victim of assault or assault and battery in the line
139of duty shall be given the option of providing the address of the home healthcare employer or of
140the labor organization in which they are a member in good standing. In instances where the
141address of the home healthcare employer is used or labor organization to which the home
142healthcare worker is a member in good standing, the home healthcare employer or labor
143organization shall ensure that the individual receives any documents pertaining to the assault or
144assault and battery within 24 hours of receipt by the home healthcare employer or labor
145organization. The home healthcare employer or labor organization shall demonstrate that it has
146provided any and all documentation by obtaining a signature from the individual acknowledging
147receipt.