On May 15, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) overstepped its authority by issuing guidance that extended certain workplace...more
On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued joint guidance highlighting workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) practices that may...more
On February 14, 2025, the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued General Counsel Memorandum 25-05 (“GC 25-05”), which rescinded dozens of previously issued memoranda and...more
2/25/2025
/ Discipline ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Opportunities ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Workplace Investigations
Massachusetts -
Starting November 21, 2024, all Massachusetts employers covered by the state’s Earned Sick Time Law will be required to allow employees to use sick time for certain reproductive losses. This change comes...more
Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law -
Once again, Massachusetts is among the vanguard of U.S. states in providing employee leave benefits. Starting November 21, 2024, all Massachusetts employers covered by the state’s...more
On May 6, 2024, the Connecticut Senate passed legislation that, once signed into law, will significantly expand the State’s paid sick leave statute, including broadening the statute’s scope to cover almost all employers and...more
On April 23, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) released its highly anticipated final overtime rule, which increases the threshold salary levels for the “white collar” and “highly compensated employee” overtime...more
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, hundreds of lawsuits (many styled as class actions) have been filed by college and university students seeking tuition and fee refunds due to campus closures during the Spring 2020 semester....more
On January 25, 2024, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD – see Note 1) announced new draft guidelines titled “Guidelines on Harassment in the Workplace” (the “Draft Guidelines”). The Draft Guidelines are...more
As of January 1, 2024, a new amendment to the Rhode Island Payment of Wages Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-14-1, et seq. (the “Wage Act”) will impose criminal liability for certain wage and hour violations by Rhode Island...more
10/4/2023
/ Amended Regulation ,
Criminal Liability ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Misclassification ,
Rhode Island ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft
On July 20, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed an employee’s Title VII lawsuit, by which she challenged her employer’s denial of her request for religious exemption from a...more
On July 21, 2023, the United States Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), the parent agency of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), announced that a new version of the Form I-9 will be...more
On June 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued a significant decision in Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174 (June 29, 2023), in which it “clarified” the religious accommodation standard under Title VII of the Civil Rights...more
Last week, a federal jury returned a more than $22 million verdict – the largest recorded award under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to date – against East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc. (“East Penn”), one of the world’s...more
As detailed in our prior client alert, the recent decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) in McLaren Macomb reverses Trump-era Board rulings that gave employers wide latitude to utilize broad...more
For many employers, it is standard protocol to include non-disparagement clauses and confidentiality provisions in employee severance agreements. However, all employers should note that the National Labor Relations Board (the...more
A Massachusetts Federal District Court has held that an employer’s garden leave payments to a former employee pursuant to a non-compete provision are not considered “wages” under the Massachusetts Wage Act.
As a...more
On October 13, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule that seeks to alter the test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under the federal Fair Labor...more
On September 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the standard for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act...more
9/14/2022
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Comment Period ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated COVID-19 guidance. This update loosens prior guidelines regarding social distancing, testing, and isolation, with the agency noting that...more
On Thursday, August 4, 2022, the First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed as moot an appeal that was brought by two former University of Massachusetts students claiming that the schools’ vaccine policies were unconstitutional...more
On June 28, 2022, Rhode Island enacted new “tip protection” legislation. The law, which applies to all employers of tipped employees, prohibits employers from retaining employee tips, creates new requirements for tip pools,...more
THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN RHODE ISLAND: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW -
On May 26th, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed legislation legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults 21 years of age and older,...more
In January 2022, the United States Supreme Court stated that it would hear arguments in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, through which it will review the role of race in the college...more
On February 28, 2022, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced that its COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave (“MEPSL”) law will come to an end, effective March 15, 2022.
Until that time, employers must still comply with...more