Island Teachers File Lawsuit Against Town For Failure To Implement Paid Family & Medical Leave

Two Nantucket Public School teachers filed a lawsuit in Nantucket Superior Court Thursday morning against the town for its failure to implement the Paid Family & Medical Leave Act after it was approved by voters during the 2024 Annual Town Meeting.

Page Martineau and Merrill Mason are the two teachers who filed the lawsuit, and they are requesting relief for the time they were forced to use sick days due to cancer treatments, surgeries, and maternity leave. Martineau has been a teacher for the public schools since 2003 and Mason has been a teacher since 2014. The suit describes the town’s failure to implement Chapter 175M, which would grant teachers paid family and medical leave.

Leah Hill, a Nantucket resident, town employee, and the lead organizer behind the 2024 citizen petition, said in a statement that the lawsuit is about more than just paid leave.

“It’s about economic security for families and retaining talented, dedicated public servants,” Hill said. “Cities and towns thrive when their municipal workers can care for themselves and their loved ones without risking financial ruin.”

Hill is also the vice president of LiUNA Local 1060 Laborers' Union, which represents public employees on Nantucket. Hill claimed that during their communications with the town, they were aware of and experienced disinformation regarding PFML implementation.

"When the town finally contacted us at the end of July to meet about PFML, they gave us a 'proposal'," Hill told the Current. "It was not a matter of whether your union wants PFML or not, but do you want PFML plus x, y, z alterations that will negatively affect your collective bargaining agreement? We felt pressured by the town because of these attached conditions, which are not mandated in the statute. When we responded to the town, LiUNA stated that we support PFML implementation as mandated in the statute (i.e. employee contribution rate) and would not accept the additional attached conditions to our CBA."

According to court documents, 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 5^th, 2024.

“I began chemotherapy in October of last year and returned to work the same week, all without the protections of the PFML,” Martineau said in a press release. “Voters in Nantucket spoke loud and clear: we deserve the same protections as every private sector worker in the Commonwealth.”

Hill's citizen petition, which became Article 37 of the 2024 Annual Town Meeting, was titled “Adopt Massachusetts General Law Chapter 175M: Family and Medical Leave,” and was adopted by voters with 380 people in favor, and 112 voting no.

Town manager Libby Gibson responded to a request for comment late Friday morning saying that she has neither seen the lawsuit nor read it at this point.

"I am focused on Town Meeting right now and little else," Gibson concluded.

On November 6^th, 2024, public schools nurse Meri Lepore asked the town for an update on negotiations to implement the Paid Family Medical Leave Act. The town responded with a statement available on its website claiming that it had entered negotiations with union bargaining teams about the article. It claims that multiple unions have declined the implementation of PFML and the imposition of associated fees for their members, and on that basis, “the town will not be pursuing the implementation of PFML at this time.” There is no mention of which unions have declined to implement the program despite Lepore asking for that information in the second part of her question.

The full statement from the town in response to Lepore reads: “The Town has met with union bargaining teams to negotiate the collective bargaining proposal related to Town employee paid leave benefits that was approved by voters at the May 7, 2024 Annual Town Meeting (Article 37). The Article accepted the State's Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) program. Multiple unions have declined the implementation and imposition of fees associated with PFML for their members. On that basis, the Town will not be pursuing the implementation of PFML at this time. The Town remains committed to providing Town employees with appropriate benefits. The disclosure of the position of each bargaining unit is subject to the rules and decisions established in MGL Chapter 150e which require that negotiations between the town and its unions remain confidential. The Town will not be disclosing information regarding negotiations with its unions.”

Martineau also says in the lawsuit that she worked half days from home on lesson planning and grading throughout the first six weeks of leave.

“Plaintiff Martineau had a port surgically implanted on October 2, 2024, in order to begin chemotherapy,” the court documents say. “Plaintiff Martineau underwent a course of chemotherapy from October 22, 2024, to January 14, 2025. Plaintiff Martineau physically returned to work in the school building the same week she began chemotherapy. During weeks that Plaintiff Martineau was undergoing chemotherapy, she worked a full day on Monday, then half days from home Tuesday through Friday. On weeks when Plaintiff Martineau was not undergoing chemotherapy, she worked the entire week as normal.

“Due to the Town’s refusal to implement the PFML, Plaintiff Martineau did not have the job protections and anti-retaliation protections provided by that statute and was forced to use her accrued sick leave,” the lawsuit adds.

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 in order to avoid using more sick days or sick bank leave.

“Plaintiff Mason had a myomectomy on September 14, 2023,” The suit says. “Plaintiff Mason’s medical providers recommended that she take off two weeks from work to recover. Plaintiff Mason returned to work after using only one week of sick days to recover, from September 18 to September 22, 2023. She was planning to get pregnant in the near future, so she wanted to save her remaining sick days a future maternity leave.”

Mason began her maternity leave on January 30, 2025, the same day she gave birth, and used 60 sick days for her maternity leave. She is scheduled to return to work on May 12, 2025.

“Plaintiff Mason had 76 sick days accrued from her long period of service with the Nantucket Public Schools before her maternity leave,” the lawsuit says. “After her leave, she will have only 16 days remaining for any unforeseen medical complications that may arise for her or her daughter.”

Mason confirmed in a release that when her daughter was born, she had to use her accrued sick days instead of taking PFML leave to care for the newborn.

“I will have to rush back to work to preserve the few days I have left,” Mason said. “If something happens to me or my daughter, I’m worried I won’t have enough sick leave left. That’s why our neighbors approved this measure, and why we’re asking the court to hold the Town to its promise.”

Martineau and Mason are requesting the court to declare that the town must implement the provisions of Chapter 175M, that plaintiffs and all other town employees gained individual rights to PFML benefits under that Chapter once it was duly adopted, order the town to make plaintiffs whole by crediting Plaintiffs with the paid time off plaintiffs used for PFML qualifying purposes during the period they should have had access to PFML, and award any other relief the court deems appropriate.

Hill said they remain hopeful that an agreement can be made with the town. 

"This is a matter of statute and we are still hopeful and willing to work with the Town, according to the statute, to provide a much needed, life changing, and low cost paid leave to our members and the Town staff as a whole that includes both union and nonunion members," Hill said.