Teachers' Lawsuit Against Town Over Paid Family & Medical Leave Heading To Supreme Judicial Court

The lawsuit filed by two Nantucket Public School teachers in May of 2025 against the town for its failure to implement the Paid Family & Medical Leave Act after it was approved in the form of Article 37 by voters during the 2024 Annual Town Meeting is heading to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in the state.

The SJC has allowed an application for direct appellate review of the lawsuit following an appeal by island school teacher Merrill Mason last month of Nantucket Superior Court Judge Elaine M. Buckley’s denial of the lawsuit in March. The case was officially transferred to the Supreme Judicial Court on Friday.

According to the Boston Bar Association, the SJC hears just 200 cases per year. When it comes to cases presented to the SJC such as this one through FAR (Further Appellate Review) applications, the SJC generally hears just three percent of all requests it receives. The SJC is the state’s final court of appeal, with its decisions only subject to review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement released by the Massachusetts Teachers Association in April, speaking on behalf of the Nantucket Teachers Association (NTA), it was confirmed that the NTA would appeal the Superior Court’s decision and seek access to the same type of paid family and medical leave benefits that Massachusetts law extends to private-sector and state employees.

“We are disappointed with the decision reached in Superior Court to deny a lawsuit brought by two members of NTA when the town failed to act on a motion passed by voters to extend the state’s PFML provisions to municipal employees,” the statement reads. “Our former president Page Martineau was one of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Her fight to have the time necessary to care for herself while being treated for cancer highlighted the need for all workers to have access to paid leave while confronting the extraordinary challenges that arise when needing to care for ourselves and our family members, young and old alike. Page died (November of 2025) as this case was proceeding, and the NTA will carry forward her fight with the Merrill Mason, who joined Page as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.”

Island voters passed Article 37, a citizen petition sponsored by Leah Hill, by a margin of 380-112 at the 2024 Town Meeting, which proposed adopting Chapter 175M. The law permits an eligible employee to take certain qualified leaves of absence, including leave to recover from illness. The program is funded by premiums paid by employees and private employers. While towns are not required to participate in the program, they can opt in by a vote of the governing body – in this case, a vote of Town Meeting.

Town manager Libby Gibson subsequently reached out to each of the town's labor unions on July 2^nd, 2024, regarding the implementation of Chapter 175M and stated that any changes or additions to employee benefits would require collective bargaining under Chapter 150E.

Superintendent Beth Hallett submitted a memorandum on August 22^nd of 2024, on behalf of the School Committee to the Nantucket Teachers Association's president and vice president, informing them that the School Committee wanted to hold information sessions with representatives from the union's leadership regarding Chapter 175M implementation.

“On September 12, 2024, the Town reached out to all of its unions to confirm their positions on implementation of Chapter 175M,” Buckley wrote. “Multiple unions responded by declining to bargain regarding the terms of implementation of Chapter 175M.”

The teachers argued in their lawsuit that once Article 37 was adopted at Town Meeting, the town administrationwas obligated to implement Chapter 175M, regardless of whether the teachers’ union, or any union, had agreed to its implementation or bargained for the terms of its implementation pursuant to Chapter 150E (Massachusetts public employee collective bargaining law). The town argued that bargaining under Chapter 150E was required first since it is a single employer and would need to implement Chapter 175M with all unions.

Buckley cited several cases as support for her verdict in the case, notably referencing Middleborough Gas & Electric Department v. Town of Middleborough in the written decision. In the Middleborough case, it was determined that providing reimbursement for eye exams and prescription eyeglasses violated the provisions of Chapter 32B because the town didn’t offer the same benefits/relief to all its union employees.

In Buckley’s memorandum, she said that even if the town was incorrect in requiring the uniform adoption of Chapter 175M terms by all unions, Martineau and Mason lack individual standing to seek individual relief.

“The plaintiffs are members of a bargaining unit represented by the Union and therefore lack individual standing to seek relief that imposes Chapter 175M adoption against all members of their bargaining unit,” Buckley says. “Therefore, the plaintiffs’ motion for judgment on the pleadings must be denied.”

Martineau had been a teacher for the public schools since 2003, and Mason has been a teacher since 2014. Martineau was diagnosed with breast cancer in July of 2024 and had to begin taking intermittent medical leave at the beginning of the 2024 school year on September 5th, 2024. Her cancer returned in 2025 and led to her passing just over six months after the lawsuit was filed.

Mason was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016 and had to depend on the sick leave bank through her union, although it was not medically advisable. The suit adds that Mason also scheduled a surgical procedure during a February school vacation week to avoid using additional sick days or sick bank leave. She began her maternity leave on January 30, 2025, the same day she gave birth, and used 60 sick days for it. She returned to work on May 12, 2025.