Under Massachusetts law, which combination of work-week hours and length of service makes an employee eligible for small-employer accident and health coverage?

Why A is correct

M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 defines an eligible employee for purposes of small-employer health coverage as an employee whose normal work week is at least 30 hours and who has been employed by the small employer for at least 5 months. Both prongs must be met: an employee short on either the hours test or the months-of-service test falls outside the statutory definition, whatever the employer's internal practices provide.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) Twenty hours and six months are not the statutory figures; M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 sets the threshold at 30 hours a week and 5 months of employment.
• C) The hours figure is right but the service period is wrong; the statute requires at least 5 months of employment, not 3.
• D) Both figures fall short of the definition in M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 — the hours floor is 30, and the service floor is 5 months.

Memory hook

Thirty hours, five months — both numbers make the employee eligible.