New England Biz Law Update

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would limit the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual harassment and assault. The Speak Out Act (S.4524) is similar to laws already in place in California, New ...

A misappropriation-of-trade-secrets case that generated more meritorious motions to compel and sanctions for failure to produce documents than any in his 37-year career warranted the rare sanction of entering default judgments against the defendants on all the plaintiff’s claims, a ...

A contractor retaliated against an immigrant employee who sustained an injury at work, leading to the employee’s detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal jury has found. The jury awarded the employee $50,000 in compensatory damages and $600,000 ...

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently clarified what effect remote workers have on the application of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”) and related state regulations. The guidance addresses when remote workers count in the ...

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Tesla cannot stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignia while on the job. The board, in a 3-2 decision, overruled a 2019 NLRB decision involving Walmart and union clothing. A ...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would change the joint employer standard. The joint employer standard defines when two employers who do business together are “joint employers,” making them liable for one ...

In a recent case, an officer was up for promotion until his superiors heard a concerning rumor. The department conducted an additional round of interviews for the job and ultimately awarded the promotion to someone else. The officer claimed retaliation ...

In August, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision holding that Walmart’s policy of refusing to provide light duty assignments to pregnant workers did not violate current law. In the case, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ...

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled in a split decision that a terminated employee could bring a “cat’s paw” discrimination claim based on evidence that a corporate reduction in force was tainted by age bias at upper levels, even if ...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Dollar General to pay approximately $1.3 million over workplace safety issues at three Georgia stores. The news of these significant fines is a wake-up call for employers nationwide to ensure they ...