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Massachusetts Addendum

Equal Employment and Anti-Harassment

This is only a state-specific excerpt. Refer to the complete policy for more information.

Hope is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions based on merit and College needs. Creating an inclusive and professional environment where employees feel comfortable, safe, and free from inappropriate and disrespectful conduct is one of the College’s core values.

Hope does not discriminate against (in any aspect of employment, including recruiting and hiring, job assignment, compensation, opportunities for advancement, promotion, transfers, evaluation, benefits, training, discipline, and termination), nor does it tolerate harassment by any person, including, co-workers, supervisors, and third parties, on the basis of the following Protected Characteristics: race (including hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists that are historically associated with race), color, religious creed, national origin, sex, status of pregnancy or related conditions (including lactation or the need to express breast milk), age (40 and older), sexual orientation, ancestry, genetic information, gender identity, handicap (disability), and military or veteran status.

Where can employees report discrimination or sexual harassment outside of Hope?

Massachusetts employees can contact the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to file a complaint. The office is located at 1 Ashburton Place, Suite 601, Boston, MA 02108. The commission can be contact by phone at (617) 994-6000 or (617) 994-6196 (TTY), by fax at (617) 994-6024, or by email at mcad@mass.gov. Employees can visit to file a complaint.

Massachusetts Unpaid Family and Medical Leave

This policy applies when Hope has 50 or more employees nationwide during 20 or more calendar weeks in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year.

Hope provides leave that complies with Massachusetts’s Small Necessities Leave Act.

Who can take this leave?

Massachusetts employees that are eligible for leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act policy can take this leave.

How much leave do employees get?

Employees can take up to 24 hours of unpaid leave during a 12-month period.

What can the leave be used for?

Employees can take this leave for the following reasons:

• To participate in school activities directly related to the educational advancement of their child, including parent-teacher conferences or interviews for a new school;
• To accompany their child to routine medical or dental appointments, such as check-ups or vaccinations; or
• To accompany their elderly relative to routine medical or dental appointments or appointments for other professional services related to the elder’s care, such as interviewing at nursing or group homes.

What are important definitions?

School means a public or private elementary or secondary school, a Head Start program assisted under the Head Start Act, or a licensed childcare facility.

Child includes a biological or adopted child or a child who the employee supervises daily and for whom the employee is financially responsible. This includes children who are over 18 that are incapable of caring for themselves because of a mental or physical disability.

Elderly relative means an individual at least 60 years old who is related to the employee by blood or marriage, including a parent.

How does this relate to other types of leave?

Leave under this policy is in addition to leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act policy. Employees may use any available paid leave to cover otherwise unpaid leave taken under this policy.

Do employees have to take this leave all at once?

Leave under this policy may be taken intermittently or on a reduced schedule.

When do employees need to provide notice?

If the need for leave is foreseeable, employees must provide at least 7 days’ advance notice of the need for leave under this policy. If the need for leave isn’t foreseeable, employees must provide notice as soon as it’s practical.

Do employees need to show documentation for this leave?

Hope may request reasonable documentation showing the leave is for a reason this policy allows.

What other information do employees need to know?

Hope won’t discriminate or retaliate against any employee for requesting or taking leave in compliance with this policy.

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance

Hope provides leave that complies with Massachusetts’ Paid Family and Medical Leave law, which creates a state-run insurance program that may provide employees with partial wage reimbursement in certain circumstances.

Who can take this leave?

Massachusetts employees can take this leave if they have earned $6,300 during the last 4 calendar quarters and at least 30 times more than the amount of weekly paid family and medical leave benefits they would be eligible to receive.

How much leave do employees get?

The state provides up to 26 weeks of combined family and medical leave in a 52-week period. See "What can the leave be used for?" below for the specific amount of leave employees can take for different reasons.

What can the leave be used for?

Employees can take this leave for the following reasons:

• Up to 12 weeks per year to care for the employee’s child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care;
• Up to 12 weeks per year to manage any needs that take place immediately after a military family member is deployed in a foreign country or has been notified of an upcoming deployment in a foreign country;
• Up to 20 weeks per year for the employee’s serious health condition which makes the employee unable to perform their job;
• Up to 12 weeks per year to care for the employee’s family member with a serious health condition; or
• Up to 26 weeks per year to care for the employee’s family member who is a covered service member and has a serious injury or illness related to that service.

Employees are limited to a combined 26 weeks of leave under this policy per year.

What are important definitions?

Family member means an employee’s sibling, spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, parent of their spouse or domestic partner, or a person who had parental responsibility for the employee when they were a minor.

Child includes a biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild, legal ward, or a person for whom the employee has parental responsibility.

Serious health condition means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential health care facility or continuing treatment by a health care provider.

How does this relate to other types of leave?

This leave runs at the same time as leave taken under other applicable state and federal leave laws, including the Massachusetts Parental Leave policy and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act policy, when the reason for leave is covered under another policy.

Employees may use any available paid time off or paid sick leave to supplement partial wage replacement from the state, up to 100% of their normal wage.

Do employees have to take this leave all at once?

Employees can take this leave all at once, intermittently, or on a reduced schedule. The only exception is for leave to bond with a child, which must be taken all at once unless the employer and employee agree otherwise. Intermittent leave or leave on a reduced schedule to care for a family member or service member must be medically necessary.

When do employees need to provide notice?

Employees must give at least 30 days’ notice to Hope of the anticipated starting date, length, and return date for their leave. If there is a delay in providing notice for reasons beyond the employee’s control, they must provide notice as soon as they can.

How do employees apply for paid family leave benefits?

Employees can apply for PFML benefits at .

What other information do employees need to know?

During this leave, employees can maintain any employment-related health insurance benefits at the level and under the conditions the coverage would have been provided if the employee had continued working continuously during their leave. Employees must continue to pay their portion of the insurance premium.

Employees who have taken this leave will be restored to their prior position or to an equivalent position with the same status, pay, employment benefits, length-of-service credit, and seniority, unless other employees of equal length of service credit and status in the same or equivalent positions have been laid off due to economic conditions or other changes in operating conditions. If the economic conditions or changes occurred during their leave, the employee returning from leave will keep any preferential consideration for another position to which they had when starting their leave.

Hope won’t discriminate against employees for requesting or taking this leave. Hope will also not interfere with or deny an employee’s exercise of rights under the state’s paid family and medical leave law.

Meal and Rest Breaks

Non-exempt Massachusetts employees who work at least 6 hours in their workday are entitled and expected to take an unpaid, off-duty, 30-minute meal break.

Who is eligible for meal and rest breaks?

Non-exempt Massachusetts employees who work at least 6 hours in their workday are eligible for breaks.

How long should breaks be?

Breaks should be 30 minutes long.

Are breaks paid?

Breaks are unpaid.

Can employees leave the workplace during meal and rest breaks?

Employees can leave the premises during breaks.

What other information do employees need to know?

Employees will be relieved of all duties for the full duration of breaks.

Failure to take full meal breaks is a violation of Hope policy, which may subject employees to disciplinary action, possibly including termination of employment.

Overtime

This is only a state-specific excerpt. Refer to the complete policy for more information.

Employees who work in Massachusetts may also be subject to the Commonwealth’s "Blue Laws," which prohibit most employers from requiring employees to work on Sundays and certain holidays. Employees can still voluntarily work on Sundays and holidays and may be entitled to premium pay, but they won’t be coerced into doing so. More information, along with a list of possible exemptions, is available at on Massachusetts’s website.

Pay Transparency

Massachusetts employees will get at least 90 days’ notice of any change to their pay frequency.

Workweek and Work Schedules

Massachusetts employees who work on Sunday are entitled to at least 1 day off (24 consecutive hours) during the following 6 days.