A nationwide surge in wage-and-hour lawsuits has been particularly pronounced in Massachusetts, where 2008 changes to the state’s Wage Act made the award of treble damages mandatory in all wage claim cases.

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

Businesses got a temporary reprieve over the summer when the Obama administration announced a yearlong delay in the enforcement of the federal requirement that employers provide health care coverage to workers or pay a fine.

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

Two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that challenge an Environmental Protection Agency rule designed to reduce the amount of power plant air pollutants that drift across state lines may be the first in a flurry of high court environmental ...

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

A rare appellate decision addressing the enforceability of non-solicitation agreements in employment contracts shows that such provisions will be broadly construed in Massachusetts, according to attorneys who practice in the field. In a 25-page opinion, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court ...

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

 As an energy attorney, Hallie F. Gilman came to the realization that her New England-based law firm, Pierce Atwood, was conflicted out of representing the very clients she wished to work with most: renewable energy generators. So a couple of ...

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

Businesspeople should think twice before cracking their next lawyer joke. An attorney might just be their boss one day.

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

Civil litigators say a worrisome number of practitioners are in the dark about sweeping electronic-discovery amendments approved last month by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue