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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 929 FILED ON: 1/14/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2564 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | James Arciero |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to emergency hazard health duty. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:James Arciero2nd Middlesex1/14/2025Tara T. Hong18th Middlesex1/14/2025David F. DeCoste5th Plymouth1/22/2025Colleen M. Garry36th Middlesex1/25/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 929 FILED ON: 1/14/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2564 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Arciero of Westford, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2564) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | James Arciero and others relative to creating a presumption of job relatedness for certain public |
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| 20 | 20 | | safety personnel and first responders suffering from incapacitation or inability to perform their |
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| 21 | 21 | | duties as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection or exposure. Public Safety and |
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| 22 | 22 | | Homeland Security. |
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| 23 | 23 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 2286 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 25 | 25 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 26 | 26 | | _______________ |
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| 27 | 27 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 28 | 28 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 29 | 29 | | _______________ |
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| 30 | 30 | | An Act relative to emergency hazard health duty. |
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| 31 | 31 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 32 | 32 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 33 | 33 | | 1 Notwithstanding any general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, any public |
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| 34 | 34 | | 2safety official, which shall include any individuals employed as police, fire personnel, correction |
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| 35 | 35 | | 3officers, dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, nursing professionals, and all |
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| 36 | 36 | | 4individuals employed and considered as 1st responders, who contract, have symptoms of, or |
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| 37 | 37 | | 5otherwise becomes affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), that results in a period of |
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| 38 | 38 | | 6hospitalization, quarantine, or require self-quarantined measures as a result of being infected or |
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| 39 | 39 | | 7coming into contact with someone who is infected with this virus, shall have their medical |
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| 40 | 40 | | 8condition or incapacity to work presumed to be work-related. The amount of time said public |
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| 41 | 41 | | 9safety official is incapacitated or unable to perform their duties as a result of the Coronavirus 2 of 2 |
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| 42 | 42 | | 10(COVID-19) infection or exposure and the required time of hospitalization, time of quarantine or |
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| 43 | 43 | | 11time of self-quarantine shall be considered as on duty time, and said public safety official shall |
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| 44 | 44 | | 12not be required to use sick time, vacation time, personal time or any other contractual time-off to |
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| 45 | 45 | | 13cover said period of incapacitation or inability to perform regular duty work. This time of |
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| 46 | 46 | | 14incapacitation or inability to perform their duties shall be considered as "emergency hazard |
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| 47 | 47 | | 15health duty," or, in the case of employees to which it applies, be covered under G.L. c. 41, |
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| 48 | 48 | | 16Section 111F. |
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