Pat works with constituents to pass laws that change lives. Below are a few examples of legislation she has passed.
Laura’s Law
Laura's husband, Peter DeMarco, wrote a heart-wrenching account of Laura's death in the Globe Magazine, called Losing Laura. It is one of the most widely read articles in the magazine ever, and shook the many people who read it.
That article, and Peter's persistent work, led Cambridge Hospital Alliance to make many changes to make it safer.
Peter wanted to make sure no one else ever died because they couldn’t find their way to an emergency department. He worked hard with Rep. Christine Barber and me to pass “Laura’s Law,” to require adequate signage and lighting, and that all entrances are monitored, including locked ones. Since its signing, he’s continued to work to ensure that there are good regulations, and that hospitals comply with the important provisions of this law.
Laura Levis was 34 years old, a journalist and editor, a weight-lifter and hiker, a wife and daughter and friend. On September 16, 2016,, she walked to Somerville Hospital to get help with an asthma attack. She followed the sign to the emergency department, and then the visible signage stopped. There were two doors, neither labeled. She went to the wrong one. The door was locked. She called 911, and eventually a nurse looked outside, but the lighting was so poor she didn't see Laura, collapsed on a bench, 29 feet from the emergency room entrance. No one was monitoring the security cameras, so they didn't see her either.
Laura died because she couldn't find the emergency room door, and the staff didn't find her.
Pay Equity
In 1989, Dorothy Simonelli and the other women school cafeteria workers of Everett brought a lawsuit saying that they did equally hard, skilled, and responsible work as the male school janitors, and should be paid equally. After a long legal battle they lost. But they caught the attention of Pat and Alice Wolf, who was then state representative from Cambridge. They filed a pay equity bill in 1998. With Sen. Karen Spilka and other legislators, Attorney General Maura Healey, the Women’s Bar Association, Mass NOW, and the Commission on the Status of Women, the bill finally passed in 2016.
The law
Allows employees to talk to each other about their pay
Says employers can’t use an employee’s salary history during hiring and offering a job; that can lock women into lower salaries for their whole career
Encourages companies to perform self-assessments of their pay practices to uncover instances of unintentional discrimination
Extends the statute of limitations for bringing comparable work claims
Dorothy and the other women cafeteria workers made half what the male school janitors did in the 1980s.
In 2016 Dorothy joined Alice Wolf, Pat and others when the bill was signed into law.
The law is helping thousands of women make progress toward fair pay. In July 2020, Newsweek reported on a study by economists at BU School of Law. The study found that "Banning employers from using salary history against prospective employees substantially closes wage gaps, increasing pay for women by eight percent and Black people by 13 percent."
But our work is not done.
Occupations that are traditionally “women’s work” — caring for children, caring for seniors, caring for people with disabilities; making and serving food -- these jobs are mostly all underpaid Our work is not done until those in the caring professions are paid what their work is really worth.
Compensation for the wrongfully imprisoned
By Dennis Maher
The day Attorney Aliza Kaplan came to visit me in prison was the day I started to think I might not have to spend the rest of my life there.
I had heard of the Innocence Project in 1993, when I had already spent nine years in prison for three rapes I didn’t commit. I got in touch, but they couldn’t locate the evidence we needed.
More years went by. I made my peace with dying in prison.
But after a newspaper article about DNA testing, I reached out again. A few weeks later, a correctional officer told me I had an attorney visit. “I don’t have a lawyer,” I said.
“You do now,” he answered.
Atty. Kaplan was determined to find the evidence, and she did. On Christmas Eve, 2002, I learned that DNA from my first case ruled me out. And on April 1, 2003, I talked with Aliza by phone. She said, “When you want to get out?”
I was crying. I was going to be free. My hopes and dreams had come to life.
Now I’m married, with two children. We named our daughter Aliza.
“I was going to be free. My hopes and dreams had come to life.”
– Dennis Maher
“I learned that Massachusetts provided no way for innocent people who had spent years in prison to receive any compensation. The law I passed has given over two dozen wrongfully convicted men like Dennis Maher a chance at a new life.”
“I learned of many teens injured and killed on the workplace.”
— Samara Walker
Protecting children
By Samara Walker
I joined the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health at 14 years of age with the role of a MassCOSH peer leader. I was responsible for organizing and facilitating health and safety workshops in the inner city for teenagers.
I learned of many teens injured and killed on the workplace due to the lack of health and safety training and unsafe child labor laws.
Teens Lead at Work lobbied at the State House, meeting with legislators to vocalize how important new child labor laws were and how it would impact and improve health and safety on the workplace for teenagers.
We held many events to support victims of health and safety violations on the workplace and to raise awareness.
I will never forget the speech I gave at a State House event for victims affected by violations of healthy and safety laws. Legislators and supporters crowded the room to support MassCOSH and the victims.
Due to the effort, commitment and diligence of MassCOSH and legislators, the child labor law passed!
I would like to personally thank Pat Jehlen for sponsoring the child labor law bill and her consistent support!
“When the Teens Lead at Work told me their stories, I worked with them to pass the first reform of our child labor laws since the 1930s. The law bans the use of children under 18 for driving, carrying guns, working alone at night in stores, and working in other dangerous jobs. The attorney general has used the law in hundreds of cases to protect young people. ”
Celebrating Marriage
By Donna Lazorick
Gail and I committed to living our lives together long before the Massachusetts court decision. We even exchanged rings. In our eyes, we were married. Just not in the eyes of the law.
I’m a nurse. When Gail’s mother, Nina, became ill with cancer and needed round-the-clock home care, I wanted to do it. Nina had survived life in a Jewish ghetto in Poland and time in the Auschwitz concentration camp. We wanted to make her as comfortable as we could at the end of her life.
I applied to use my accumulated sick time under the the Family Medical Leave Act to take care of her. My superiors were all supportive, but I was turned down because she wasn’t my relative – legally.
When the court ruled for marriage equality, we were overjoyed. Nina had wanted to live to see her daughter’s wedding. Maybe she could.
But then we realized she couldn’t make the trip to City Hall for the ceremony. We called Pat, who had been a strong supporter of marriage equality before it became safe politically. Pat got a one-day authorization to marry us at our home.
It was a short, wonderful ceremony. There were about 10 of us on the porch of our house. Nina got out of bed and into a wheelchair. She said it was the happiest day of her life. One month later, she died.
“Pat got a one-day authorization to marry us at our home.”
– Donna Lazorick
Gail and Donna were two of the many couples who told their stories to me and other legislators. I am so happy that I played a part in the historic legislative work that made marriage possible for everyone.
— Pat Jehlen
Preventing fatal fires
By Tom Ross
In 30 years as a firefighter, I have never seen a big house burn down as fast as the house on Foskett Street that burned Sept. 2, 2004.
Four workers were finishing the floors, using a chemical to make the floors dry quicker, and it became a flammable gas in the air. Something – possibly a cigarette – set it off and all the air in the house exploded. The workers tried to get out, but it was dark inside and they couldn’t take a breath. With one breath, your lungs were seared.
One of them died inside, near the entrance. Three got out. One took refuge in their work van. When I got there, I was throwing a ladder to the second floor, and he came out of the van, holding his arms outstretched, saying, “Can you help me,” and skin was dripping off his body. It was like a horror movie.
I think he survived but I’m sure he had a very long recovery. Another worker died the next day at the hospital, and it must have been a horrible, painful death.
I’m sure the legislation that Senator Jehlen spearheaded to ban that chemical saved lives. How many people have their floors refinished? This would have happened again. It’s only a matter of when.
“The legislation that Senator Jehlen spearheaded to ban that chemical saved lives.”
– Tom Ross