On March 28, 2024, in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Massachusetts Superior Court decision finding the furniture retailer’s commission-based compensation scheme...more
4/30/2024
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Over-Time ,
Private Right of Action ,
Retailers ,
Sales Commissions ,
State Labor Laws ,
Treble Damages ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage Act ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
On August 14, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision—Marcus v. American Contract Bridge League—clarifying and applying the standards for determining whether an employee qualifies for the Fair...more
9/15/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Appellate Courts ,
Collective Actions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Retaliation ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On April 14, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that when an employee pursues and succeeds on a claim for the failure to pay overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the employee may...more
On January 13, 2022, in Waters v. Day & Zimmermann NPS, Inc., the First Circuit Court of Appeals became the third federal appellate court to address the application of the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in...more
On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel...more
12/23/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Appeals ,
At-Will Employment ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Personnel Records ,
Public Policy ,
Rebuttal ,
Wrongful Termination
On June 10, 2021, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a plaintiff’s lawsuit alleging, among other things, failure to pay wages under the Massachusetts Wage Act. In Rose v. RTN Federal Credit Union, the...more
7/7/2021
/ Appeals ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
LMRA ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Law Claims ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage Act ,
Wages
On April 9, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee may be liable to his or her employer under the Commonwealth’s unfair and deceptive trade practices statute - which authorizes an award of...more
4/22/2021
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Duty ,
Conspiracies ,
Conversion ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employment Litigation ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Misappropriation ,
Reversal ,
Treble Damages ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Willful Misconduct
Recently, and for the first time in more than 20 years, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled on the transportation worker exemption contained in Section 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In...more
As employers reopen their businesses following closures or reductions in operations required during the COVID-19 pandemic, many are grappling with the fraught and complex task of bringing laid-off or furloughed employees back...more
Like many states, Rhode Island has enacted a statute that governs the use of drug tests in the employment context. Under Rhode Island’s drug-testing statute, R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-6.5-1(a)(1), an employer may require an...more
The deadlines for notice to employees and contribution withholdings required by the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFML) are fast approaching, and employers are encouraged to make sure that they are...more
In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, No. 16-1466 (June 27, 2018), the Supreme Court of the United States significantly expanded the rights of nonunion public employees by...more
4/30/2019
/ Collective Bargaining ,
First Amendment ,
Janus v AFSCME ,
Labor Relations ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Public Employees ,
Public Sector ,
Public Sector Unions ,
Union Membership ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
In Mui v. Massachusetts Port Authority, issued on January 29, 2018, Massachusetts’s highest court decided an issue of first impression in the Commonwealth: whether accrued but unused paid sick time counts as “wages” for...more
In a decision that could spell trouble for Massachusetts employers, a judge in the Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session recently held that meal breaks count as “compensable working time,” for which employees must be...more
In one of his last acts as governor, former-Governor Deval Patrick signed into law on January 7, 2015 an amendment to the previous Massachusetts Maternity Leave Law that extends eight weeks of unpaid leave to both male and...more
The Massachusetts Independent Contractor statute, Mass. G.L. c. 149, § 148B, establishes a rigorous three-part test for determining whether a worker performing services for an employer may be considered an independent...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has overruled a Superior Court decision holding that a state statute requiring payment of wages preempts common law and equitable causes of action for recovery of unpaid wages....more
In a case of first impression, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has approved a worker’s claim under the Commonwealth’s anti-discrimination law, Mass. G.L. c. 151B, that his former employer discriminated against...more
In a unanimous decision issued on March 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the named plaintiff in a proposed class action lawsuit cannot defeat federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA or the...more