The Supreme Court just rejected an employer’s argument that a whistleblower needs to show the employer acted with retaliatory intent to prove retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), a federal law that protects...more
Does a fired whistleblower need to show their employer acted with retaliatory intent to prove retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)? The Supreme Court has been asked to review the standard of proof in such cases –...more
1/19/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Defense Strategies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Proof ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank highlights many of the concerns that employers might face should they find themselves in the midst of a liquidity crisis. Making payroll, arriving at decisions related to wage...more
3/14/2023
/ Business Operations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Furloughs ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Involuntary Reduction in Force ,
Labor Relations ,
Layoffs ,
Liquidity ,
Notice Requirements ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Wage and Hour
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
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
5/13/2022
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Misclassification ,
Secretary of State ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Constitutions ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
Massachusetts is one of handful of states to have adopted the stringent “ABC” test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee. That has made it one of the most fertile battlegrounds over this...more
1/28/2022
/ ABC Test ,
Ballot Measures ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
State Attorneys General ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
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
Connecticut employers must be prepared to disclose wage ranges for vacant positions to applicants and employees, as the state’s new law aimed at eliminating gender-based pay discrimination – “An Act Concerning the Disclosure...more
The Connecticut Senate just voted to approve a bill legalizing recreational cannabis use, and since Governor Ned Lamont has stated he will sign the bill, Connecticut will soon become the nineteenth state to legalize adult-use...more
6/23/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dispensaries ,
Drug Possession ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Recreational Use
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that Title VII’s administrative exhaustion requirement—whereby an aggrieved employee first must file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) or a state...more
6/4/2019
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Title VII
You may recall several years ago when the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) issued revised regulations concerning the “white collar” exemptions to minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)...more
In a highly anticipated move, the U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to consider a trio of cases that will determine whether the nation’s most prominent workplace discrimination statute prohibits employment discrimination...more
4/22/2019
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Certiorari ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
The House Committee on Education and Labor just voted in favor of the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 7, S.270), which, if ultimately enacted, would amend federal wage and hour law “to provide more effective remedies to victims...more
The backlash has begun: whereas an increasing number of employers are now banned from asking prospective employees about their salary history, local jurisdictions in two states face a ban from instituting such bans. What do...more
As we reported last November, businesses in the UK with 250 or more employees now are required publicly to report differences in pay between men and women on their own websites and also to upload such information to a...more
Two advocacy organizations, concerned that national pay equity action has been stalled, recently filed a lawsuit in federal court aiming to resurrect the beefed-up EEO-1 reporting requirements which would have forced...more
The Third Circuit’s affirmation of summary judgment in a pay equity case after ten years of litigation shows that even non-meritorious claims can be time-consuming and costly. As many who have been involved in lawsuits know,...more
11/14/2017
/ Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Penn State ,
Retaliation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
We love a good political fight, but dealerships would be well-advised to check the gloves at the office door and instead heed the wisdom offered long ago by Calvin Coolidge: “No man ever listened himself out of a job.”...more
On June 10, 2015, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office published a revised Safe Harbor provision concerning the Earned Sick Time Law that made significant changes to the Safe Harbor provision previously issued on May...more
Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, recently announced a bill—An Act to Promote Growth and Opportunity—that would provide workforce training opportunities and promote economic development incentives across the...more