New England Biz Law Update

A provision in the Massachusetts state budget would have amended the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA). But the governor has not signed the amendment. Legislation would have allowed employees to use their accrued paid leave to supplement ...

You’ve just received notice that an employee has been arrested. A local news outlet is calling to confirm the person’s employment history and the employee rumor mill is already active. Now what? First consult legal counsel, inside or outside your ...

Massachusetts has become the latest state to ban discrimination based on natural hairstyles. On July 26, 2022, Governor Charlie Baker signed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (“Crown”) Act. The act prohibits hair discrimination in workplaces ...

The World Health Organization has declared monkeypox to be a health emergency, and several U.S. states have followed suit. Monkeypox is not expected to reach pandemic levels, but employers may wish to review their infectious disease and other relevant workplace ...

Eventually, most organizations will face a complaint of wrongdoing involving a company employee, or worse, a company leader. When such complaints arise, the company should respond with a prompt, thorough, and fair investigation. Typically, it’s not a question of whether ...

In July, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it had entered into a conciliation agreement with a dermatology practice for violating the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) after it collected COVID-19 test results for employees’ family members. The ...

Reporting an alleged violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) does not qualify as a “protected activity” under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), according to a ruling from a federal appeals court. In Baker v. Smith & Wesson, Inc., a ...

Attorney-client privilege recognizes that, in order to provide sound legal advice, an attorney must be fully informed. The privilege doctrine enables clients to be open and transparent with their legal counsel. In some cases, attorney-client privilege can be used to ...

An aesthetician at a medical spa who opened her own business after being terminated could sue the spa over its actions in attempting to enforce an allegedly void restrictive covenant, a Massachusetts trial court judge has held. The covenant purported ...

Americans’ support of unions is on the rise, and the number of union petitions has gone up as well — including petitions involving big, well-known companies like Starbucks and Amazon. For many years, membership in unions in the private sector ...