Legal Question in Disability Law in Massachusetts

I'm sorry for your lose, and unfortunately this answer comes potentially too late to do any good for you, however, in the event that others have this same question, I present this answer to you:

Under the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) it is possible to take leave from work if it is in regards to your own personal health (such as depression, coping, or assisting with a grieving parent or sibling).

In order to get leave under the FMLA your company must first be covered by the Act:

FMLA eligible workers must have worked for the employer for a minimum of 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours, and applicable employers must employ 50 or more workers. Or if the employer is a state or federal agency.

If your employer is covered under FMLA you are entitled to 12 weeks of leave, during a 12-month period. You must provide notice, and the leave must be reasonably medically relevant, refer to: http://federalfmla.typepad.com/fmla_blog/2007/04/bereavement_lea.html

Which states in pertinent part:

Bereavement for the death of a family member is not automatically covered by the FMLA. To invoke the protections of the FMLA, an eligible employee must provide his or her employer with adequate notice that leave is needed for a reason covered by the FMLA. To do so, an employee need not invoke the FMLA by name. However, the employee must provide sufficient information to alert the employer that the need for leave might be covered by the FMLA. Where bereavement leave is involved, an employee, for example, may need FMLA leave because they are depressed and that depression meets the definition of an FMLA-covered s"serious health condition." Similarly, the employee may need leave "to care for" a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who is suffering, physically or mentally, as a result of the death of a loved one. Wrapping up the affairs of the deceased is not an FMLA-covered "serious health condition" for purposes of job-protected leave.