Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title XXI Chapter 152
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 152, § 26 (2026)

Injuries arising out of and in course of employment

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 26. If an employee who has not given notice of his claim of common law rights of action under section twenty-four, or who has given such notice and has waived the same, receives a personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, or arising out of an ordinary risk of the street while actually engaged, with his employer's authorization, in the business affairs or undertakings of his employer, and whether within or without the commonwealth, he shall be paid compensation by the insurer or self-insurer, as hereinafter provided; provided, that as to an injury occurring without the commonwealth he has not given notice of his claim of rights of action under the laws of the jurisdiction wherein such injury occurs or has given such notice and has waived it. For the purposes of this section any person, while operating or using a motor or other vehicle, whether or not belonging to his employer, with his employer's general authorization or approval, in the performance of work in connection with the business affairs or undertakings of his employer, and whether within or without the commonwealth, and any person who, while engaged in the usual course of his trade, business, profession or occupation, is ordered by an employer, or by a person exercising superintendence on behalf of such employer, to perform work which is not in the usual course of such work, trade, business, profession or occupation, and while so performing such work, receives a personal injury, shall be conclusively presumed to be an employee, and if an employee while acting in the course of his employment receives injury resulting from frost bite, heat exhaustion or sunstroke, without having voluntarily assumed increased peril not contemplated by his contract of employment, or is injured by reason of the physical activities of fellow employees in which he does not participate, whether or not such activities are associated with the employment, such injury shall be conclusively presumed to have arisen out of the employment.

If an employee is injured by reason of such physical activities of fellow employees and the department finds that such activities are traceable solely and directly to a physical or mental condition resulting from the service of any of such fellow employees in the armed forces of the United States, the entire amount of compensation that may be found due shall be paid by the insurer, self-insurer or self-insurance group; provided, however, that upon an order or pursuant to an approved agreement of the department, the insurer, self-insurer or self-insurance group shall be reimbursed by the state treasurer from the trust fund established by section sixty-five for all amounts of compensation paid under this section.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 136 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1928–2025 · leading case: Foley v. Polaroid Corp., 413 N.E.2d 711 (Mass. 1980).
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Foley v. Polaroid Corp., 413 N.E.2d 711 (Mass. 1980). · cites it 8× “G.L.c. 152, § 26. See Albanese's Case, 378 Mass.”
Kelly's Case, 477 N.E.2d 582 (Mass. 1985). · cites it 10× “employment" within the meaning of G.L.c. 152, § 26. *685 This is the insurer's appeal from a judgment entered in the Superior Court, and affirmed by the Appeals Court, 17 Mass.”
McElroy's Case, 494 N.E.2d 1 (Mass. 1986). · cites it 11× “After a hearing, a single member of the board found that the employee had been traveling to Marlborough at the time of the accident for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment for a work-related injury, and ruled as a matter of law that injuries sustained in such an accident…”
Coll.-Town, Div. of Interco, Inc. v. Massachusetts Comm'n Against Discrimination, 508 N.E.2d 587 (Mass. 1987). · cites it 2× “Finally, College-Town argues that Rizzi's damages for emotional distress were compensable exclusively under the Workmen's Compensation Act, G.L.c. 152, § 26. College-Town is precluded from arguing this issue on appeal because it failed to raise it before the commission, and has…”
Lev v. Beverly Enter.-Massachusetts, Inc., 929 N.E.2d 303 (Mass. 2010). · cites it 2× “” In Caron’s Case, supra at 407, 409-410, this court concluded that a widow and her three minor children were entitled to workers’ compensation benefits under G. L. c. 152, § 26, where her husband died in a car accident while driving home from a company dinner meeting that he…”
Dartt v. Browning-Ferris Indus., Inc., 691 N.E.2d 526 (Mass. 1998). · cites it 2× “152, §§ 26, 27, and that she erroneously admitted in evidence two legally irrelevant and, it is argued, highly prejudicial, outdated employment application forms previously used by BFI. We review these claims. *13 At the time of his second accident, Dartt no longer suffered from…”
Sikorski's Case, 918 N.E.2d 30 (Mass. 2009). · cites it 4× “” G. L. c. 152, § 26. If the first question is answered affirmatively, we evaluate whether the employee’s injury is excluded from compensation as purely voluntary participation in recreational activity.”
Zerofski's Case, 433 N.E.2d 869 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 2× “employment,” as it appears in § 26 of our workers’ compensation act, 1 G. L. c. 152, § 26, as amended through *591 St.”
Green v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 12 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 333 (Mass. 1996). “545, 548-549 (1980) (Foley I), quoting G. L. c. 152, § 26 (1994 ed.). The plaintiff’s common law claims meet this test.”
Higgins's Case, 187 N.E. 592 (Mass. 1933). · cites it 4× “Prior to the amendment to G. L. c. 152, § 26, introduced by St. 1930, c.”
Andresen v. Diorio, 349 F.3d 8 (1st Cir. 2003). “The first and third of these seem hopeless on the merits but, in any event, all four were dismissed as to Shaw’s on the single ground that they were precluded by the Massachusetts *16 Worker’s Compensation Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 152, § 24 (2000). 3 The Workers’ Compensation…”
Bisazza's Case, 897 N.E.2d 1 (Mass. 2008). · cites it 3× “152, § 1 (7A), of the workers’ compensation law, which defines the term “personal injury,” requires a greater “work-relatedness” nexus for emotional and mental injury compensation than is required for physical injury compensation under G. L. c. 152, § 26. Generally, a worker may…”
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