Boston Public Library not letting workers donate sick time to colleague with cancer, unions say

Boston Public Library employees are rallying to get approval for a colleague to use extended sick time donated by her coworkers.

The effort is being led by the Professional Staff Association, one of two staff unions at the Boston Public Library (BPL). The union, which represents librarians, archivists, curators, conservators, and professional staff, recently set up a public petition urging the BPL’s Board of Trustees to grant the employee the sick time she is trying to use.

In 2019, Eve Griffin, the curator of fine arts for BPL, was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. After using all of her own sick days and leave, she had no choice but to rely on hours donated by PSA members to attend doctor’s appointments and receive treatment, the union wrote on its website.

In November 2024, Griffin submitted a request to the PSA’s Extended Sick Leave Fund Committee, which the PSA approved. However, the BPL and the city’s Office of Labor Relations (OLR) denied the request, according to the petition.

“No one who is going through cancer treatment should also have to worry about paying their bills,” the petition reads. “If we allow BPL and OLR to decide that a member shouldn’t be granted the hours from our sick bank now, what is to stop them from denying all of our requests in the future?”

The Board of Trustees cited “operational constraints” in a letter explaining its reasoning for denying the request, said Allie Hahn, president of the PSA.

Along with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Workers Local 1526 (AFSCME), the BPL’s other union, the PSA delivered a petition to BPL President David Leonard and the Board of Trustees. The petition, signed by more than 200 staff members, demanded that Griffin be granted the requested sick bank hours.

The Board of Trustees has not directly commented on the controversy, citing “respect for the rights of the public employees who work here to confidentiality and to the privacy of their protected health information” in statements since the petition’s submission.

“We were really disappointed and let down by their response that they don’t get involved with personnel matters,” Hahn said.

The BPL told the union that they wanted Griffin to be absent less frequently if they were to grant her request, according to Hahn.

Following this additional pushback from the BPL and the Board of Trustees, the PSA went public with its efforts to get Griffin’s request approved.

“We really did try every route prior to this before we turned to the press and turned to the public,” Hahn said.

At a Feb. 4 Board of Trustees meeting, several attendees, including PSA members, delivered spoken and written comments urging the board to reverse the decision.

“Denying the use of the sick bank does more than harm the individual staff member who is already suffering through a catastrophic health crisis. It invalidates the very ethos of care that has driven us for over 170 years,” wrote Kathleen Monahan, vice president of the PSA. “If the BPL — a place that prides itself on strengthening community — is not willing to encourage mutual support in times of need, then who will?”

The PSA is meeting Feb. 11 for an executive meeting to talk about next steps, Hahn said. The union is also planning to reach out to the Boston City Council and Mayor Michelle Wu’s office, according to Hahn.

“We believe Eve deserves her time,” she said.

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