Firefighter cancer presumption in Massachusetts
After 5 years of service, Massachusetts presumes 16 cancers are job-related, plus others tied to exposure.
The rule comes from Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 32, § 94B. It applies to disability retirement and death benefits.
Presumed means the law assumes your job caused the cancer, so your employer has to show it came from something else. Massachusetts's cancer law is separate from workers' comp, which is the insurance that pays medical bills and lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under Massachusetts's law
- Your service lasted 5 years or more.
- Only paid fire department members are covered, so volunteers don't qualify.
- Total disability or death from the cancer is required.
- A physical exam must have been passed when you joined the fire service or later on.
- Your service must have included regular responses at the scene to fires or to fire investigations.
- The cancer must have been found within 5 years after your active service ended.
Your employer is allowed to argue that something besides your job caused the cancer.
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers Massachusetts covers
Cancers also count if heat, radiation, or cancer-causing chemicals can trigger them and a state health rule ties them to firefighting.
| Cancer | Covered in Massachusetts? |
|---|---|
| Bladder cancer | Yes |
| Brain cancer | Yes |
| Colon or rectal cancer | Yes |
| Esophagus cancer | Yes |
| Kidney cancer | Yes |
| Leukemia | Yes |
| Liver cancer | Yes |
| Lung cancer | Yes |
| Mesothelioma | Yes |
| Multiple myeloma | Yes |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | Yes |
| Pancreatic cancer | Yes |
| Prostate cancer | Yes |
| Skin cancer, melanoma included | Yes |
| Stomach cancer | Yes |
| Throat or mouth cancer | Yes |
| Cancer of the breastThis counts only where a DPH regulation finds a correlation with fire service that is statistically significant | If linked to your work |
| Cancer of the ovaries, cervix or uterusThis counts only where a DPH regulation finds a correlation with fire service that is statistically significant | If linked to your work |
| Testicular cancerThis counts only where a DPH regulation finds a correlation with fire service that is statistically significant | If linked to your work |
| Cancer of the thyroidThis counts only where a DPH regulation finds a correlation with fire service that is statistically significant | If linked to your work |
In Massachusetts, how do you go about filing a claim for firefighter cancer?
- Talk to your department or its pension or benefit board about how you apply for disability retirement and death benefits. Give them the law’s name (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 32, § 94B). That board is the office that decides retirement and disability pay for your department.
- You can also file a workers' comp claim, which is a second claim with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. Massachusetts's cancer law does not help with that one, so your doctor has to say in writing that your work caused the cancer.
- Collect your diagnosis, any physical exam results, your fire and exposure records, and the dates you were hired and served.
- Try to start soon, because time limits apply. Ask your department or the board how long you have to apply. A workers' comp claim has its own deadlines.
Look at a different cancer · See which states list each cancer