New England Biz Law Update

The U.S. Department of Labor Jan. 7 announced three new opinion letters that address compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. The newly issued opinion letters are: FLSA2020-1, addressing calculating overtime pay ...

The National Labor Relations Board recently announced significant changes to its rules regarding representation elections. The new rules undo many of the 2014 modifications made by the Obama board, as discussed below. These changes are not scheduled to become effective ...

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura T. Healey’s office has announced it is suing eight online e-cigarette sellers it says are violating a new state law banning sales of flavored tobacco products. A complaint filed on Dec. 20 in Massachusetts Superior Court alleges ...

Consistent with both the “place of contracting” and “interest-weighing” approaches to choice-of-law questions, a federal magistrate judge in Rhode Island has recommended to the District Court that Massachusetts law should apply to a Rhode Island plaintiff’s common law claims against ...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Dec. 6 the implementation of an electronic registration process in the next H-1B lottery. Employers seeking H-1B workers subject to the cap will be required to complete ...

On Nov. 20, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division announced changes to its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Corporate Enforcement Policy. The policy, which began as a pilot program in April 2016 and was formally introduced in ...

A federal judge has ruled that a Rhode Island man’s suit against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for what he calls “constructive expulsion” can proceed to trial. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns in Boston determined that John Harnois, a ...

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination’s recently adopted policy regarding the disclosure of charges in open cases conflicts with its own regulations, the state Appeals Court has found. With its Nov. 19 ruling, the court overturned the decision of Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly that ...

In December, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments related to Gov. Charlie Baker’s emergency regulation banning the sale of nicotine vaping products. Baker’s administration had appealed an Oct. 21 order of the state Superior Court, which had allowed ...

A financial advisor who claimed she was subjected to gender discrimination and retaliation by UBS Financial Services and its market manager in Boston, James E. Ducey, has been awarded $1,633,019 following arbitration. Christine Carona was awarded damages, attorneys’ fees, and ...