New England Biz Law Update

An insurance company that paid workers’ compensation benefits to an injured plaintiff is not entitled to full reimbursement from a settlement of a third-party liability suit, a U.S. District Court judge in Rhode Island has determined. The plaintiff argued that ...

Changes are afoot at the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, but those in charge insist they have nothing to do with any of the well-documented problems plaguing the agency. A Dec. 30 story in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reported on an ...

An ambiguity in the Massachusetts Wage Act has been unfairly jacking up settlements, according to certain members of the labor and employment bar who believe the issue needs to be fixed. Seyfarth Shaw’s Lynn A. Kappelman says a client in ...

A skycap who was fired because his employer said he solicited tips in violation of company policy could bring a retaliation claim asserting that he was actually terminated for his involvement in a Fair Labor Standards Act action against the ...

The city of Boston and Prudential Insurance Co. are locked in an acerbic, multi-million-dollar fight at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that will have major implications for New England lawyers involved in large Chapter 11 reorganizations. The case, ...

Is a severance package a form of employment income, or does it constitute a supplemental unemployment benefit? The answer makes a big difference when it comes to income taxes, and it’s now up to the justices of the U.S. Supreme ...

A high school principal did not have to work 10 years before being entitled to payment for her unused vacation time, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge has determined. The defendant School Committee argued that the plaintiff principal’s own employment ...

Violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act are increasingly being alleged by employers in lawsuits against former employees, but with a split in the district of Massachusetts, the ability of a business to hold fraud charges over a defector’s ...

Intellectual property attorneys practicing in the 1st Circuit say they have serious concerns about a proposed statute that would establish a new administrative panel to decide smaller copyright claims. The U.S. Copyright Office recently released a 161-page report recommending the ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recent focus on compliance and enforcement issues surrounding laws barring national origin-based job bias has some attorneys wondering if new guidance may be forthcoming. The EEOC held a meeting on Nov. 13 to address the ...