Massachusetts Employment Law Blog

The Massachusetts Attorney General released final clarifications regarding the state’s earned sick time (EST) law that goes into effect July 1, 2015. Under the new law, all employers within the state must allow workers to accrue and use up to 40 hours of earned sick time each calendar year. Some specific elements of the law…

Uber is more popular than ever in large American cities, but a serious question exists: are Uber drivers employees or independent contractors? One California judge with several Uber cases on his docket may be on the verge of answering that question. Two of the cases currently before the judge include: In June of 2015, the New…

New York recently joined the growing number of states that allow employers to pay workers with payroll debit cards. Instead of a paper check or direct deposit into a banking account, wages are placed on a payroll card for the employee to use at his leisure. Prior to this new legislation, direct deposit was the…

Many employers consider credit ratings of potential employees when making hiring decisions, as well as decisions concerning promotion and pay rates.  This practice often results in discrimination against lower income and minority applicants. The Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act bans the use of credit histories in employment decisions regarding potential and existing workers within…

Proposed revisions to Section 13(a)(1) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are coming under scrutiny as some question the Department of Labor’s (DOL) authority to create legislation. U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez recently announced that the agency submitted a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that will potentially affect the…

Ridesharing company Uber is facing another court challenge. The owner of Celluride Wireless filed a lawsuit against the company for the alleged theft of his technology and ideas. According to the complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California, Kevin Halpern asserts that he first developed the concept of a peer-to-peer ridesharing service in 2002. …

Has your employer punished you for insisting upon your rights? A recent court ruling makes it harder for courts to dismiss employee claims of retaliation. The case arose from the employment of an African American woman at a resort hotel.  Shortly after her initial hire date, she alleges that she was called a “porch monkey”…

The salaries of top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under attack with the introduction of a new Congressional bill. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., is sponsoring legislation that would potentially cap executive salaries within these two companies, making them comparable to the salaries of officials within the government’s executive branch. This move is…

The whistleblower in a hedge fund advisor case recently received a $600,000 award from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The case involved allegations that the hedge fund owner made improper transactions with an affiliated broker dealer that she owned, without disclosing the affiliation to her client. The company’s head trader reported the actions…

Disputes between Boston area taxicab drivers and medallion owners came to a head as the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling in Sebago v. Boston Cab Dispatch. At the heart of the debate is the classification of these drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees. The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Statute Under the Massachusetts Independent Contractor…