I believe you're thinking of the emergency fund for COVID, which no longer applies. The regular sick time requirements sure do though!

And also pfml has an approval process - it's not the same as sick time or workers comp

Hi! It's my literal job to know this (although I'm not a lawyer) but this is almost assuredly illegal. MA requires employers to have earned sick time policies and there are minimum standards required of them. It needs to be paid if the employer has more than 10 employees, but even if it's unpaid there are still protections from retaliation.

It is possible for them to be legally shitty about this if it's within the first 90 days of employment or if the employee has used up all the year's possible accrued time.

If that doesn't apply I encourage you to file a complaint with the MA attorney general's office via the fair labor division. (The department of labor is a federal entity and wouldn't enforce this).

PS he should also reach out to the dept of industrial accidents to check in about whether the company has an appropriate workers comp policy