New England Biz Law Update

Not planning for layoffs can lead to lawsuits

Companies who want to do work for the federal government may soon have to do some mouse-clicking on the Internet first to make sure there are no illegal workers on their payrolls. A proposed rule that could potentially affect hundreds ...

Business groups and employment defense attorneys are worried employee lawsuits will be much harder to fight in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that employers bear the burden of production and proof in disparate impact age discrimination ...

The Internal Revenue Service in April released new draft instructions for its recently-revamped Form 990 for non-profit organizations – and its looking for a lot more information about the inner workings of non-profits. While the original form contained nine pages ...

Advocates and opponents of a bill seeking to ban mandatory binding arbitration clauses in most contracts – bolstered by recent studies they say prove their positions – are amplifying their calls on Congress to act in favor or against the ...

The recent jump in the number of federal discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the last fiscal year – the largest annual increase since the early 1990s – has employment lawyers urging companies to take a ...

Company counsel looking to shield privileged communications and documents from the prying eyes of the government and litigation adversaries historically have faced a tougher battle than their outside counsel counterparts. A closely-watched case pending before the 1st Circuit presents an ...

In trio of decisions, court rules state tort claims, regulations trumped by federal law

The Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in a case raising the issue of when, if ever, employees can bring discrimination-based retaliation claims under 42 U.S.C. §1981. In CBOCS West v. Humphries, No. 06-1431, the Department of Justice urged the ...

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently told a Senate panel the Justice Department has replaced the controversial “McNulty memorandum” – which outlines federal prosecutors’ ability to encourage corporate defendants to waive the attorney-client privilege in order to cut a better ...