New England Biz Law Update

The new year will be here soon. Consider this to be your annual reminder to review your employee handbook. Handbooks should be reviewed regularly as employment laws change at the local, state, and national level. Failure to update your handbook ...

A Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer is suing the city, claiming that his employer violated his right to free speech. The city moved to dismiss the lawsuit, but a federal district court is allowing it to move forward. Officer Brian Hussey ...

A “tester-plaintiff” had standing to sue over a hotel reservation website’s alleged failure to comply with federal regulations governing accessibility for the disabled, even if she had no plans to actually book a room at the hotel, a federal appellate ...

As every employer has seen, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes to employees’ work locations, schedules and job status, affecting their work and personal obligations. This has resulted in competing job and caregiving demands for millions of Americans who must ...

A former Tesla employee has filed a federal lawsuit in Nevada, alleging that the company subjected her to a sexually hostile work environment, including obscene rap music and inappropriate actions from a coworker. Regarding the music, the suit claims that ...

On average, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) takes 69 days to process a discrimination claim. The slowest office took 111 days while the fastest office took just 11, according to findings from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), ...

First there was “quiet quitting,” a phenomenon in which employees reduce the effort and initiative they put into their job until they’re doing the bare minimum. Then, that was quickly followed by the idea of “quiet firing,” or effectively reducing ...

A “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” has been published by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The framework, which is only guidance at this time, applies to the use of automated technology that impacts someone’s ...

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Massachusetts has found that a judgment debt owed by a contractor to two workers in their state Wage Act case can be discharged. Plaintiffs Julio Simoes and Eduardo Pereira, who performed construction work for ...

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking related to classifying employees as independent contractors. The change could result in more workers being classified as employees and therefore entitled to certain federal protections such as ...