New England Biz Law Update

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advancing a proposal that would eliminate the discretionary 60-day grace period currently available to certain H-1B and other workers whose employment ends before their authorized stay expires.

Massachusetts’ highest court has clarified when a general contractor may be held liable for injuries suffered by a subcontractor’s employee, ruling that general responsibility for a worksite is not enough by itself to create a duty to control a subcontractor’s safety practices.

An employer has agreed to pay $75,000 and make changes to its accommodation procedures to resolve a federal lawsuit alleging that it stopped scheduling a cashier after she requested a chair or stool because of a disability.

A former manager has sued Meta, alleging he was terminated after refusing to sign an immigration reference letter that he believed contained materially inaccurate statements about another employee's work.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a former employee’s failure-to-accommodate claim, finding that a jury could conclude that the employer should have considered reassigning him to a vacant position rather than keeping him on indefinite unpaid leave.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a Missouri university that allegedly retaliated against a Black employee after she complained about being separated from white colleagues during mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to abandon the longstanding McDonnell Douglas framework used to evaluate many employment discrimination claims, even as two judges on the panel openly questioned whether the test remains sound.

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that a manager did not violate federal labor law when she told an employee from a unionized store that union workers might no longer be able to pick up shifts at nonunion locations.

Two new opinion letters draw a line between ordinary commuting and travel that becomes part of the employee’s workday.

Amazon is facing a lawsuit from a former manager who says the company approved his intermittent leave to care for his ill wife but failed to apply that leave correctly to his attendance record.