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
Short of a successful (but highly unlikely) appeal, the Obama-era overtime rule is now officially no longer. That rule would have required employers to pay employees a little more than $47,000 annually to qualify under one of...more
9/1/2017
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Lack of Authority ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Obama Administration ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
As all HR professionals and employment lawyers know (even those currently living under rocks), the Department of Labor’s final overtime rule is scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016 – less than two weeks from now. ...more
In the final weeks before the end of the legislative session, the Massachusetts House and State both addressed major pieces of labor and employment legislation. However, although the legislature passed S.2119, an Act to...more
8/11/2016
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Credit Checks ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Baker ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Pay Equity Act (PEA) ,
State and Local Government ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft
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
Non-disparagement provisions are commonplace in today’s settlement and separation agreements, with employers often seeking the broadest protection against disparagement. A recent decision from a New York federal court,...more
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
Recently, Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Administrator David Weil announced that the DOL would issue an “administrator interpretation” letter early this summer on how an employer can best address whether an individual qualifies...more
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases during its Fall 2015 term that could further transform the wage and hour class action landscape. We briefly discuss those two cases below.
Gomez: The Effect of Rule 68...more
6/29/2015
/ Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Offer of Judgment ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
TCPA ,
Tyson Foods ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Wage and Hour
Employers do not have to pay their employees to attend mandatory alcohol counseling and treatment sessions, according to a New York Federal court. In reaching its decision, the court concluded that employee attendance at...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