Employer – Employment Law

New Pregnancy Law Takes Effect April 1; Employers should have Written Policies in Place by Now

Effective on April 1, 2018, Massachusetts will institute its new pregnancy statute. The law brings broad new protections for pregnant employees, some of which benefit women after a child is … more →

Hiking of Minimum Wage to $15/Hour Makes its Way toward the Ballot Box for November 2018

Dissatisfied with the recent increase of the Massachusetts minimum wage to $11/hour and its failed efforts to get the state legislature to move the hourly rate to $15, a coalition … more →

With the New Equal Pay Act Set to Take Effect on July 1, 2018, it’s Time for Employers to Evaluate their Wage Practices

The effective date of the new Massachusetts Equal Pay Act is fast approaching, and employers who have not yet begun to evaluate wage disparities between men and women need to … more →

Massachusetts Law Continues to Protect against Gender Identity Discrimination Despite Federal Pronouncment

When Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced that his Justice Department rejects the idea that transgender people are protected under Title VII, the federal workplace discrimination statute, it received quick … more →

Pregnant Workers will Enjoy Broad New Job Protections under Recently Signed Massachusetts Law

Massachusetts recently took another step to protect members of its workforce. Late in July, Gov. Charlie Baker signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which provides broad new rules for pregnant … more →

Employees may be Free to Speak their Minds, but Employers are Free to React

Free speech is not always free. That seemingly obvious point was apparently lost on Google employee James Damore, a man making headlines recently after he was fired for writing a … more →

Noncompetition Agreement Legislation Appears No Closer to Passage in Massachusetts

The effort to regulate the use of noncompetition agreements continues to languish in a legislative committee, where most of several competing proposals were referred early in 2017. Alongside them – … more →

Employers Get Another Reason to Carefully Review and Comply with Wage Laws

It’s no surprise that the reach of Massachusetts’ wage laws is long, and most employers know they need to carefully abide them if they want to avoid potentially dire effects. … more →

Reasonable Accommodation Laws Apply to Use of Medical Marijuana in Massachusetts

If there was any doubt that employers need to be careful about disciplining employees who use medical marijuana, it was ended today by the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). It held … more →

Supreme Judicial Court Rules that Employees get Interest on Unpaid Wages but not Statutory Penalties

The Supreme Judicial Court this week issued its latest interpretation of the Massachusetts Wage Act, Mass. Gen. L. ch. 150, §§148-150. It ruled that prejudgment interest on unpaid wages and … more →