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Hiring & Firing › MA Supreme Judicial Court

Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and... more +
Hiring & Firing refers to the process of recruiting, interviewing and offering employment and the process of evaluating performance and dismissing employees. Hiring & Firing is a highly regulated area and can create tremendous liability for employers who fail to properly adhere to acceptable employment practices. Some of the potential pitfalls in this area stem from discriminatory hiring practices, improper performance evaluations, and retaliatory firings.  less -
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Upholds 7-Eleven Franchise System in Denying Franchisees’ Challenge to Their Independent...

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On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) answered a second certified question in Patel, et al. v. 7-Eleven, Inc., et al. (“Patel II”), a long-running case where 7-Eleven franchisees claimed they...more

Foley Hoag LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules 7-Eleven Franchisees Are Not Employees

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On September 5, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that 7-Eleven franchisees are not employees of the franchisor under the independent contractor statute. The SJC looked beyond...more

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts Appeals Court Broadly Interprets “Joint Employment” to Hold Management Company Liable: 6 Steps to Minimize Your Risk

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The Massachusetts Appeals Court just rendered a decision that significantly broadens when one entity may be found to be a “joint employer” of another entity’s employees under state wage laws. The June 13 decision, coupled...more

Fisher Phillips

7-Eleven Franchise Owners Not Deemed Employees Under Massachusetts Law

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A federal court recently ruled that 7-Eleven franchise owners are not employees of the franchisor, the latest development in a long-running legal saga challenging their status as independent contractors. However, this...more

Fisher Phillips

The Top 14 Workplace Law Stories from July 2022

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It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts High Court Nixes App-Based Driver Ballot Question

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As we reported last month and back in January, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) was considering whether voters in the state could weigh in on a ballot initiative classifying app-based drivers (those using...more

Verrill

Massachusetts Employee Fired For Submitting PIP Rebuttal Protected By Public Policy

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In a recent decision, Terence Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that an employer cannot terminate an employee for exercising the right to file a rebuttal to a...more

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts High Court Hears Argument on Gig Driver Ballot Question

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As we wrote back in January, Massachusetts is in the midst of a multi-fora battle over whether gig drivers (those using app-based platforms such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart) should be treated as employees or...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Massachusetts Court Awards Trebling of Late Wage Payments as Damages under Wage Act

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Many state wage-and-hour laws require that employers adhere to strict time requirements regarding payment of compensation owed upon termination, but the Massachusetts high court recently took that to another level....more

Perkins Coie

Failure to Pay Wages Due at Discharge Can Incur Triple Damages in Massachusetts

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Late payment of final compensation just became significantly more expensive for employers with workers in Massachusetts. In an opinion on April 4, 2022, Reuter v. City of Methuen, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held...more

Conn Kavanaugh

Late Payment of Wages Means Triple Liability for Employers Even If Wages Are Paid Before Suit is Filed

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On April 4, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) dispelled the notion that employers can avoid triple liability for late payment of wages under the Massachusetts Wage Act, M.G.L. c. 149, § 148 (“Wage Act”),...more

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts High Court: Employers Are on the Hook for Triple Final Pay Even When Payment is Made Before Claim is Filed

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In yet another gift to plaintiffs’ attorneys, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just held yesterday that employees are entitled to automatic triple damages for late final wage payments even where the employer pays the...more

Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

Massachusetts SJC Holds that Independent Contractor Statute Applies to Franchisees

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On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) determined that the Massachusetts independent contractor statute (G. L. c. 149, § 148B) applies within the franchisor-franchisee context and does not...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Preemption Preempted

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Patel v. 7-Eleven, a case in Massachusetts, has been closely watched since the ABC test took hold of franchise relationships in employee misclassification cases across the country. A putative class of 7-Eleven franchisees...more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Adds New Personnel Records Wrinkle to Public Policy Exception to Termination of At-Will...

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A recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) significantly expanded the Massachusetts common-law public policy exception to termination of at-will employees.  This decision, Meehan v. Med. Info....more

Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Finds that Employees Cannot be Terminated Merely for Filing a Rebuttal to a Personnel Record

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On December 17, 2021, Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) held that an employee’s filing a rebuttal to information placed in their personnel file that could...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules in Favor of Worker Fired for Rebutting Negative Performance Improvement Plan

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

Massachusetts Creates Exception to At-Will Employment for Employees Exercising the “Right of Rebuttal”

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On December 17, 2021, the highest state court in Massachusetts held that an employer may not terminate an employee solely for exercising his right to file a rebuttal to be included in his personnel file....more

Conn Kavanaugh

Employers Beware: M.G.L c. 149, § 52C Right to Rebut Trumps At-Will Employment

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Massachusetts law gives employees the right to submit a written statement explaining the employee’s position when the employee disagrees with any information contained in the employee’s personnel record. This written...more

Fisher Phillips

Who Works for You? Massachusetts High Court Clarifies 4-Factor “Joint Employment” Test for Employers

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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just provided much-needed and helpful guidance on the appropriate standard for determining whether an entity is an individual’s “joint employer” in order to determine liability under...more

Fisher Phillips

Massachusetts Employers Must Exercise Caution: “Implicit” Domestic Violence Leave Requests Could Lead to Liability

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The highest court in Massachusetts just ruled that employers may be subject to liability under the state’s domestic violence leave law even if employees don’t explicitly request such leave, creating a potential liability trap...more

Sherman & Howard L.L.C.

Ministerial Exception Doesn’t Cover Christian College Professors, But Does Cover Catholic School Principals?

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Even after the Supreme Court’s recent decision that the so-called “ministerial exception” barred employment discrimination claims brought by a pair of Catholic school teachers, lower courts continue to wrestle with the scope...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Supreme Judicial Court Trebles Jury Award of Future Commissions

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Seyfarth Synopsis: In a February 12, 2020 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that future commissions a plaintiff would have earned but for her retaliatory termination were subject to trebling under the...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

SJC Finds Commissions Lost Due to Retaliation Are Subject to Trebling

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In a February 12, 2020 decision, Parker v. EnerNOC, Inc., SJC-12703, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the full commission which would have been due to an employee had she not been retaliated against and...more

Burns & Levinson LLP

Vacationing While on FMLA Leave Is Not Grounds For Termination

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Imagine, an employee in your organization advises that they need to take leave pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act to recover from an upcoming surgical procedure. Your organization approves the leave and then you...more

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