Massachusetts

A flurry of new decisions from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) and the U.S. Supreme Court have approved the use of class action waivers in arbitration agreements. These decisions affirm that employers in Massachusetts can dramatically reduce their exposure to employment law class acti

Two recent appellate decisions in Massachusetts further expand the reach of the state’s Payment of Wages Law (“Wage Act”), which imposes significant penalties for violations, including mandatory treble damages and attorneys’ fees.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently held that the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law may apply to individuals who perform services outside of Massachusetts for a Massachusetts company. The decision, Taylor v. Eastern Connection Operating, Inc., significantly expands the potential

Your Vice President of Sales announces that she is leaving to work for your biggest competitor. She signed a noncompetition agreement when she joined the company five years ago as a junior sales associate. Can you get an injunction preventing her from competing with your company? In Massachusetts, t

On March 4, 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court resolved a dispute regarding the effect of after-the-fact gratuitous payments on wages due under state law. In Dixon v. City of Malden, the court held that gratuitous, after-the-fact payments by the City did not extinguish the City’s obligat

Effective January 31, 2013, temporary staffing agencies in Massachusetts must provide temporary employees with written notice of certain information before the employees can go to a new assignment for work. The new law also prohibits staffing agencies from charging temporary employees for certain it

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the "SJC") recently answered two important questions that have vexed lower courts, and employers, in recent years. First, the SJC concluded that employees may release claims under the Massachusetts Payment of Wages Law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, § 148 (the "W

Massachusetts has one of the most employee-friendly independent contractor laws in the country. The Massachusetts law creates a heavy presumption of employee status and makes it very difficult to establish independent contractor status. Many Massachusetts employers have struggled with its applicatio

Affirming a $14 million judgment against Starbucks Corporation for violation of Massachusetts’ unique tip law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that the employer’s shift supervisors could not participate with baristas in tip pools based on tips left in the ubiquitous counter

In a disappointing development for Massachusetts employers, efforts by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s office to come up with a new bill negotiated with employer participation clarifying a vague and vexing provision of state law mandating that employees be notified promptly of adverse entries in

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has signed into law a bill prohibiting hospitals from requiring nurses who deliver patient care to work mandatory overtime. “Mandatory overtime” is defined as “any hours worked by a nurse in a hospital setting to deliver patient care, beyond the predetermined and

On August 6, 2012, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed the "Temporary Worker Right to Know Act." The Act, which takes effect on November 5, 2012, places several new legal burdens on staffing agencies in Massachusetts, as well as companies that utilize their services. Specifically, the Act re

On August 6, 2012, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts signed into law Senate Bill 2400, "An Act improving the quality of healthcare and reducing costs through increased transparency, efficiency and innovation."

Since the Massachusetts Personnel Records statute was amended in 2010 to place an affirmative duty on employers to notify employees of certain additions to a “personnel record,” Massachusetts employers have been concerned that the amendment was too vague and broad to be workable. At the urging of ma

Massachusetts employers will be faced with a host of new obligations affecting their ability to obtain and use criminal background information from applicants and current employees beginning May 4, 2012. The state’s 2010 criminal offender record information ("CORI") law created a new method and da

Effective May 4, 2012, the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform Act (the Act), which was enacted in August 2010 with the controversial "ban the box" legislation, will significantly change the way employers access, use, and maintain information obtained through the Commonw

In a case of first impression, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge recently held that an employer may adopt a policy prohibiting employees from accepting tips from customers without violating the Massachusetts Tips Law. Any such policy, however, must clearly and conspicuously be announced to custom

Thirty-nine percent of data breaches in the U.S. happened to businesses while the data was in the hands of third-party vendors, according to the 2010 Annual Study of the Ponemon Institute.

On November 23, 2011, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the "Gender Identity Bill." This makes Massachusetts the 16th state – along with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wa

The federal appeals court in Boston has underscored the importance of carefully examining and understanding restrictive covenants, such as non-competes and non-solicitation agreements, that may be acquired in a business purchase. The Court found a one-year non-compete clause in a restrictive covenan