Presumptive Disability Law in Massachusetts

Presumptive Health Initiative

CODE PART:
GENERAL LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS
PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE IV. CIVIL SERVICE, RETIREMENTS AND PENSIONS

Chapter 32: Section 94. Impairment of health caused by hypertension or heart disease, resulting in disability or death of paid fire or police department member; presumption
Chapter 32: Section 94A. Disability or death caused by disease of lungs or respiratory tract; paid fire department member; presumption
Chapter 32: Section 94B. Disability or death caused by certain conditions of cancer; paid fire member; presumption

Massachusetts Legislative Website

DESCRIPTION:

Section 94
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary affecting the non-contributory or contributory system, any condition of impairment of health caused by hypertension or heart disease resulting in total or partial disability or death to a uniformed member of a paid fire department or permanent member of a police department, or of the police force of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or of the state police, or of the public works building police, or to any employee in the department of correction or a county correctional facility whose regular or incidental duties require the care, supervision or custody of prisoners, criminally insane persons or defective delinquents, or to any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, shall, if he successfully passed a physical examination on entry into such service, or subsequently successfully passed a physical examination, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.

As used in this section the words “permanent member of a police department” shall include a permanent member of the park police of a city or town.

Section 94A
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary affecting the non-contributory or contributory retirement system, any condition of impairment of health caused by any disease of the lungs or respiratory tract, resulting in total disability or death to a uniformed member of a paid fire department, including, without limitation, any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, shall, if he successfully passed a physical examination on entry into such service or subsequent to such entry, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, as a result of the inhalation of noxious fumes or poisonous gases, unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.

Section 94B

  1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any condition of cancer affecting the skin or the central nervous, lymphatic, digestive, hematalogical, urinary, skeletal, oral or prostate systems, lung or respiratory tract, resulting in total disability or death to a uniformed member of a paid fire department, or a member of the state police assigned to the fire investigation unit of the department of fire services, or a member of the state police K-9 unit, or to any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, shall, if he successfully passed a physical examination on entry into such service or subsequent to such entry, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that non-service connected risk factors or non-service connected accidents or hazards undergone, or any combination thereof, caused such incapacity. The provisions of this section shall only apply if the disabling or fatal condition is a type of cancer which may, in general, result from exposure to heat, radiation, or a known or suspected carcinogen as determined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, so called.
  2. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person serving in such positions for fewer than five years at the time that such condition is first discovered, or should have been discovered. Any person first discovering any such condition within five years of the last date on which such person actively so served shall be eligible to apply for benefits hereunder, and such benefits, if granted, shall be payable as of the date on which the employee last received regular compensation. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person serving in such position unless such person shall first establish that he has regularly responded to calls of fire or their investigation at the scene during some portion of the period of his service in such position.
  3. The provisions of this section shall also apply to any condition of cancer, other than those listed in subdivision (1), which, in general, may result from exposure to heat or radiation or to a known or suspected carcinogen as determined by said International Agency for Research on Cancer, so-called, and the incidence of which is found by regulation by the commissioner of the department of public health to have a statistically significant correlation with fire service.
  4. Nothing herein shall preclude a member from applying for and receiving benefits under section seven or section nine, subject to the provisions of said sections.