New England Biz Law Update

African-American police officers who were fired or suspended after failing hair-sample tests to detect illegal drug use could not sue the city of Boston for discrimination, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has found that an Office Max sales manager who accused her company of operating an “old boy’s network” was entitled to five years of front pay and $300,000 in emotional distress damages.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

A new program that allows certain undocumented immigrants to receive temporary work authorization is not on most employers’ radar screens even though they can get into trouble if their employees file under the program.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

A former policeman who claimed the city that had employed him violated a settlement agreement to reimburse him for unpaid vacation time could not sue the municipality under the Wage Act, the Appellate Division of the District Court in Massachusetts ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

The powers that be at Choate, Hall & Stewart maintained from the start that a $5 million malpractice suit filed against the Boston mega-firm would quickly and decisively be tossed out of court.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

A former Dechert associate will get his day in court, thanks to a recent ruling by a federal judge.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

In the second of two cases considering what class action plaintiffs must prove to make it past the certification stage, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tackled the issue of whether plaintiffs asserting a fraud-on-the-market claim must prove that ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

If the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court wanted to decide whether the Daubert standard for admitting expert testimony at trial also applies at the class action certification stage, they picked a factually and procedurally messy case as a vehicle ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

A hotel executive who claimed that he was the victim of a retaliatory termination, but provided no evidence that he suffered any physical infirmity as a result of his firing, could not recover more than $200,000 in emotional distress damages, ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

An employer could not consolidate two of its product-testing labs at different locations on its worksite into one lab without first negotiating with a labor union, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue