On June 28, 2018, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a law affecting all employers in the Commonwealth by creating a paid family and medical leave program funded by a state payroll tax, increasing the state minimum...more
6/29/2018
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Governor Baker ,
Medical Leave ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled in Mui v. Massachusetts Port Authority that payment for accrued, unused sick time is not a “wage” under the state wage act, M.G.L. c. 149, s. 148, and therefore a...more
2/12/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Earned Sick Time ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Local Ordinance ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Popular ,
Sick Pay ,
Wage Act ,
Wage and Hour
Relying on its precedent, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held for the second time this year that the Federal Aviation Administrative Authorization Act of 1994 (“FAAAA”) preempts application of the Massachusetts...more
Last Thursday, Uber settled two closely-watched class actions contesting Uber’s classification of approximately 385,000 drivers in California and Massachusetts as independent contractors as opposed to employees. While the...more
A recent Colorado federal court decision serves as a good reminder to employers on how not to obtain a release of claims from a terminated employee. For starters, don’t tell the employee her job is being eliminated and then...more
11/4/2015
/ Age Discrimination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fraudulent Inducement ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Popular ,
Release Agreements ,
Severance Agreements ,
Termination
A U.S. Department of Labor final regulation prohibiting third-party home care agencies and other third-party employers from taking advantage of the Companionship and Live-In Domestic Worker minimum wage and overtime...more
10/6/2015
/ Companionship Exemptions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Domestic Workers ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Home Health Agencies ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Third-Party ,
Wage and Hour
Can an employer escape a treble damage award under the Massachusetts Wage Act where it makes a late payment of final wages to a fired employee after the employee filed a wage complaint with the state Attorney General but...more
As a major national company learned recently, employers cannot shirk their obligations to investigate employee complaints of a hostile work environment simply because the identity of the harasser is unknown. Failure to...more
7/14/2015
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Due Diligence ,
Duty to Investigate ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Good Faith ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Remand ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Vacated
Employers and their HR departments are faced with a host of new issues and challenges. When you’re not navigating new state, federal, and local laws and making sure systems are in place to comply with them, you’re busy...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking a hard look at employers who implement employee wellness programs that condition eligibility for benefits on participation in such programs. In the past few months,...more
As one employee recently learned, a supervisor’s favoritism toward another employee because of a romantic relationship does not equate to unlawful discrimination. Additionally, a complaint of said favoritism cannot serve as...more
Recently, litigation consultant TrialGraphix Inc. sued its competitor FTI Consulting, Inc. and four former high-ranking employees in New York Supreme Court for allegedly scheming to steal its trade secrets and gain access to...more
A recent decision from the Massachusetts federal district court serves as a good reminder to Massachusetts employers that courts are unlikely to view the breach of a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement as justification...more
In a case of first impression, the First Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an employer can be held liable under Title VII for quid pro quo sexual harassment based on the discriminatory actions of a non-supervisory...more
A recent decision from a Massachusetts superior court reinforces what we’ve known for quite some time – be extremely mindful of the actions you take with respect to an employee lodging a complaint under M.G.L. 151B, the...more
The importance of drafting employment agreements carefully could not be more evident in the superior court case of Boesel v. Swaptree, Inc., where the court rejected a high-level executive’s ability to bring a claim under the...more
Anti-poaching agreements, non-recruitment pacts, no-hire contracts, whatever you want to call them, require a protectable interest to be enforceable in New York. That’s what a Southern District of New York judge in Reed...more
In today’s increasingly competitive world, employers understandably have a need to protect their business interests by requiring employees to enter into non-competition agreements that restrict their employees’ ability to...more