Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, along with state house and senate leadership, just announced that they had agreed to implement a three-month delay to the Commonwealth’s robust Paid Family and Medical Leave program late...more
Led by Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), a nine-member coalition of the Massachusetts business community, along with employee and low-income advocacy groups, just requested a three-month delay to the start of...more
The Massachusetts Department of Paid Family and Medical Leave—the agency charged with regulating and enforcing the Commonwealth’s nascent paid leave program—just issued its mandatory workplace poster and guidance on the law’s...more
4/18/2019
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Medical Leave ,
New Legislation ,
Notification Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Communication ,
Written Notice
As you may remember, it was Christmas in July for employees when Massachusetts passed the “Grand Bargain,” among other things, putting the Commonwealth on a path to a $15.00 minimum wage. When the clock struck midnight on...more
1/9/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Holiday Pay ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
As the ramp-up towards Massachusetts’ paid family and medical leave continues, the newly created Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) just launched its website and issued its first guidance documents. As discussed...more
11/19/2018
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Medical Leave ,
New Guidance ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
One month into Massachusetts’ new non-competition law, employers throughout the Commonwealth are learning what many predicted from the beginning—there are a lot more questions than answers. As Fisher Phillips previously...more
11/1/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Garden Leave ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Removal For-Cause ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wrongful Termination
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
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
After nearly 10 years of start-and-stop efforts on Beacon Hill, Governor Charlie Baker signed “An Act Relative to Economic Development in the Commonwealth” on Friday evening, which includes sweeping changes to the way the...more
It finally happened. After years of debate on Beacon Hill, Massachusetts law makers agreed to reform the Commonwealth’s treatment of noncompetition agreements as part of a number of bills passed in the waning hours of the...more
In one fell swoop, Massachusetts has set in motion a plan to increase its minimum wage to $15.00 per hour and create a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program as the result of a “grand bargain” between employee...more
6/28/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Blue Laws ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Governor Baker ,
Holiday Pay ,
Medical Leave ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
Rate of Pay ,
Retail Workers ,
Retailers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Trust Funds ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Massachusetts just joined 21 other states and the District of Columbia by enacting a comprehensive pregnancy workplace law with unanimous support from the legislature, employee advocates, and the Massachusetts business...more
7/28/2017
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Pregnancy Disability Leave Law ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Undue Hardship ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Work Schedules