Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 30 § 46E
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, after June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and eighty-one, no position allocated to job group M-V through job group M-XII, inclusive, of the management salary schedule provided in section forty-six C shall be classified under chapter thirty-one; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to positions for which full or partial reimbursement is made by the federal government and which are required by federal law or regulation to be covered by a merit system, so-called; and provided further, that no exemption from the provisions of this section shall be allowed unless certification of the federal requirement is received from the appropriate federal official and unless such certification is renewed at regular intervals.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 30, § 46E