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Leave to Observe Veterans Day, and to March on Memorial Day
Since 7 November 2018 all private employers in Massachusetts must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day, and must grant a veteran employee sufficient time to take part in a Memorial Day exercise, parade or service in their community of residence. Whether the leave is paid is the employer’s decision.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
Since 7 November 2018 all private employers in Massachusetts must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day, and must grant a veteran employee sufficient time to take part in a Memorial Day exercise, parade or service in their community of residence. Whether the leave is paid is the employer’s decision.
What it's worth: Leave on Veterans Day, and sufficient time for a Memorial Day event — paid or unpaid at the employer’s discretion
- The Attorney General’s Office states that effective 7 November 2018 all private employers must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day, and that leave shall be granted with or without pay at the discretion of the employee’s employer.
- For Memorial Day the office describes a narrower entitlement: leave "of sufficient time to participate" in an exercise, parade or service that takes place in the veteran’s "community of residence", again paid or unpaid at the employer’s discretion.
- No figure is published here because the statute confers time, not money, and the pay is the employer’s call.
Who is entitled to it
- The leave belongs to an employee who is a veteran.
- Your home is in Massachusetts.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
Deadline: Veterans Day, 11 November; and Memorial Day for the parade entitlement- 1Ask in writing and ask early. The right is to the leave itself, and a written request creates the record that matters if it is refused.
- 2Ask separately about pay. The statute leaves paid or unpaid to the employer, so an employer offering unpaid leave is complying, not refusing.
- 3For Memorial Day, name the event and where it is. The entitlement is sufficient time to take part in an exercise, parade or service in your community of residence — not the whole day, and not an event anywhere you choose.
- 4Expect the essential-services exception to be raised if it fits. Employers are not required to provide the leave where an employee provides services that are essential and critical to the public health or safety and determined to be essential to the safety and security of the employer or the employer’s property.
- 5If you work for the Commonwealth or a municipality, ask under the public-sector provision instead. The Trial Court Law Libraries point public employees to M.G.L. c.30 §9H for time off to take part in a Veterans or Memorial Day exercise.
- 6If leave is refused outright, the Attorney General’s Office publishes this right on its own guidance and lists its Consumer Advocacy and Response Division hotline on 617-727-8400 and its Fair Labor hotline on 617-727-3465.
- Form
- None — ask your employer, in writing where you can
- File with
- Your employer; the Attorney General’s Office if the leave is refused
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThe leave is required; the pay is not. An employer who grants the day unpaid has done what the statute asks, and a veteran expecting a paid holiday is reading the law more generously than it reads itself.
CorrectionThe Memorial Day entitlement is narrower than the Veterans Day one. It is sufficient time to take part in an exercise, parade or service in the veteran’s own community of residence, not a day off.
Worth knowingPublic employees have a separate route. The law library points them to M.G.L. c.30 §9H rather than to this section, so a Commonwealth or municipal employee should ask under that provision.
Known gapThe text of M.G.L. c.149 §52A½ and of M.G.L. c.30 §9H was not read directly. Both link out to malegislature.gov, which refused direct retrieval and browser navigation this session, so this record rests on the Attorney General’s own published guidance.
Sources
- authority · published policyMassachusetts Attorney General’s Office — Breaks and time off, section "Veterans Day and Memorial Day", citing G.L. c.149 §52A½ as amended by Section 32 of Chapter 218 of the Acts of 2018 ("Effective November 7, 2018, all private employers must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day. Leave shall be granted with or without pay, at the discretion of the employee’s employer"; all private employers must grant leave to a veteran employee who desires to participate in a Memorial Day exercise, parade or service, of sufficient time to participate in an event in the veteran’s community of residence, paid or unpaid at the employer’s discretion; employers are not required to provide leave where an employee provides services that are essential and critical to the public health or safety and determined to be essential to the safety and security of the employer or the employer’s property)
- operating · published policyTrial Court Law Libraries — Massachusetts law about veterans (MGL c.149 §52A½, "Veterans; participation in Memorial Day exercise and observance of Veterans Day; leave of absence granted; exceptions": a veteran scheduled to work on Veterans Day may be entitled to paid time off under certain circumstances; see also MGL c.30 §9H, public employees who are veterans, participation in Veterans or Memorial Day exercise, time off granted, exceptions)
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.