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H2188 • 2025

An Act relative to bereavement leave

An Act relative to bereavement leave

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Marcus S. Vaughn
Last action
2026-03-26
Official status
Accompanied a new draft, see H5302
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to bereavement leave

An Act relative to bereavement leave By Representative Vaughn of Wrentham, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to bereavement leave By Representative Vaughn of Wrentham, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 2188) of Marcus S.
  • Vaughn and Chynah Tyler relative to bereavement leave.
  • Labor and Workforce Development.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-26 House

    Accompanied a new draft, see H5302

  2. 2025-11-26 House

    Reporting date extended to Wednesday, March 18, 2026

  3. 2025-08-14 House

    Reporting date extended to Wednesday, December 3, 2025

  4. 2025-05-07 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 05/13/2025 from 11:00 AM-01:00 PM in B-1

  5. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on Labor and Workforce Development

  6. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to bereavement leave
By Representative Vaughn of Wrentham, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2188) of Marcus S. Vaughn and Chynah Tyler relative to bereavement leave. Labor and Workforce Development.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
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Bill H.2188

Chapter 149 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 52E the following section: -

Section 52F. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

“Bereavement leave”, leave from employment taken to grieve or make arrangements necessitated by the death of a family member or extended family member.

“Family member”, the child, parent, legal guardian, spouse or person in long -term romantic relationship with an employee and who resides with that employee.

“Employee”, an individual hired by an employer for lawful employment.

“Employer” , as defined in section 1 of chapter 151A.

“Extended family member”, the aunt, uncle grandparent, niece, nephew, grandchild, or cousin

who assisted in the care of a family member.

(b) An employer shall permit an employee to take bereavement leave following the death of a family member for up to 10 business days in any 12-month period to:

(i) make arrangements necessitated by the death of the family member, including, but not limited to, funeral arrangements, estate preparation or other legal arrangements;

(ii) attend the funeral or equivalent to a funeral of a family member; or

(iii) grieve the death of a family member.

(c) An employer shall permit an employee to take bereavement leave following the death of an extended family member for up to 4 business days in any 12-month period to:

(i) make arrangements necessitated by the death of the extended family member , including, but not limited to, funeral arrangements, estate preparation or other legal arrangements;

(ii) attend the funeral or equivalent to a funeral of an extended family member; or

(iii) grieve the death of an extended family member .

(d) Leave permitted under this section shall be taken within 30 days of the date on which an employee receives notice of the death of a family member or extended family member.

(e) An employer shall have the sole discretion to determine whether any leave taken under this section shall be paid or unpaid.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to affect any bargaining agreement, company policy or other federal, state or municipal law which provides for greater or additional rights to leave than those provided for by this section.

(g) An employer may require proof of death in the form of medical record or police report.

(h) An employer may require proof of relation when an employee requests bereavement leave for the death of an extended family member .

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