Labor Law

28 Mirick O'Connell Attorneys Named to 2024 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars List

24 Mirick O'Connell Attorneys Named to 2025 Best Lawyers and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch List

28 Mirick O'Connell Attorneys Named to 2023 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars List

Attorney Marc Terry Named COSA Chair

2024 Best Lawyers Awards Announced

27 Mirick O'Connell Attorneys Named to 2022 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars List

PODCAST: MA Employers Must Pay Final Wages or Face Treble Damages

Ashlyn Dowd featured in Community Legal Aid

e-Alert: COVID-19 and Masks: Updated Guidance from OSHA and Massachusetts

e-Alert: COVID-19 and Masks: Should Employers Continue to Require Masks in the Workplace?

Brian Casaceli quoted in LegalZoom "Vaccinations, Masks, and Small Business Rights"

17 Mirick O'Connell Attorneys Named to 2021 Best Lawyers and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch List

PODCAST: Nick Anastasopoulos and Jim Croteau of Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. discuss How do Businesses Protect Themselves, their Employees and Clients as Businesses Start to Reopen?

e-Alert: COVID-19: OSHA's Updated Guidance - Face Masks in the Workplace/ United States Supreme Court Issues Historic Decision Protecting LGBT Workers from Employment Discrimination

e-Alert: A Trap for the Unwary: A Furlough May Compromise Your Non-Compete Agreement

e-Alert: Massachusetts Legislature Passes Remote Notarization Bill / Recommendations to Ensure Workplace Safety in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Non-Healthcare Employers

Employment Law Webinar Recording Available

e-Alert: Congress Passes Families First Coronavirus Response Act/ April 15 Reprieve

Jonathan Sigel interviewed by NECN - How to Prepare for Mass Equity Pay Law

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Employer Obligations Under the MA Paid Family Medical Leave Law"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Update: "U.S. District Court Strikes Down Department of Labor's Final Rule Increasing the Salary Thresholds for Salaried Exempt Executive, Administrative..."

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Massachusetts Expands Permitted Uses of Earned Sick Time"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "FTC's Non-Compete Ban Ruled Unenforceable by Federal Judge"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "A Reminder That the Department of Labor's Final Rule Increasing the Salary Thresholds for Salaried, Exempt Executive, Administrative, and ..."

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Federal Trade Commission Bans Non-Competition Clauses"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Overtime Protections Expanded for Millions of Workers"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Dartmouth College Men's Basketball Team Held to Be Employees of Institution and Allowed to Unionize"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "New California Non-Compete Law Prohibits Almost All Non-Compete Agreements and Requires Notice to Certain Current and Former Employees"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "All Employees Now Permitted to 'Top Off' Benefits Under Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "NLRB General Counsel Expresses Views on Non-Competes Violating the NLRA"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Navigating Pay Transparency Laws: What Employers Need to Know"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Private Employers Take Note: Overbroad Non-Disparagement & Confidentiality Restrictions..."

e-Alert: "The NLRB Pendulum Swings Back: Employers Face Increased Liability for Damages, While It's Once Again Easier for Smaller Worker Groups to Organize"

Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Legal Update: "Massachusetts "CROWN" Law Prohibits Discrimination Based on Hairstyle"

Employer Tax Credits for Employee Paid Leave Due to COVID-19 Applies to Government Entities

Recent COVID-19 Legislation Provides Payroll Tax Relief to Employers

Federal Appeals Court Halts Implementation of NLRB Employees' Rights Posting

New Limits on Employer Access To and Use Of Criminal Records Take Effect on May 4, 2012

Attorney General Announces $2.8 Million Settlement with 3 Companies that Violated Massachusetts Prevailing Wage and Misclassification Laws

Supreme Judicial Court Issues Much Anticipated Quinn Bill Decision

Transgender Discrimination Protection

Massachusetts Court Upholds Students' Suspensions for Hazing Incident

Principal and Teacher Who Exchanged Intimate E-Mails May Proceed with Invasion of Privacy Claim Against Employer

Employment Law Seminar October 8, 2024

OSHA and MA DSL Compliance and Workplace Safety Seminar

Off the Clock: Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Blog

Dartmouth College Men’s Basketball Team Held to Be Employees of Institution and Allowed to Unionize

In the Matter of Trustees of Dartmouth College & Service Employees International Union, Local 560, Case 01-RC-325633 (2024), the Regional Office of the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or the “Board”) has provided yet another expansion of the Board’s on-going …

New California Non-Compete Law Prohibits Almost All Non-Compete Agreements and Requires Notice to Certain Current and Former Employees by February 14

California has long taken an extremely strong position against non-compete agreements, but new laws which took effect January 1, 2024 make that prohibition even stronger and impact employers nationwide who have any employees in California.  California now expressly prohibits any …

Navigating Pay Transparency Laws: What Employers Need to Know

Over the last several years, in an effort to close the gender pay gap, several states and localities across the country have enacted pay transparency laws that, generally, require employers of certain sizes with employees in those locations to disclose …

Private Employers Take Note: Overbroad Non-Disparagement & Confidentiality Restrictions in Severance Agreements Run Afoul of the National Labor Relations Act

As many employers well know, it is customary to include non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions in severance agreements that prohibit departing employees from (i) making disparaging, critical, or otherwise detrimental comments concerning the employer and (ii) disclosing information concerning the substance, …

Is Your Company in Compliance With Executive Order 13706?

In September 2015, Executive Order 13706 was signed, requiring employers that enter into covered contracts with the federal government to provide covered employees with up to seven days (56 hours) of paid sick leave annually, including paid leave allowing for …

SJC Finds Public Meeting Comment Restrictions Unconstitutional

Government boards and committees should review their public comment policies following a decision this week by the Supreme Judicial Court holding that a “civility code” violated the Massachusetts Constitution’s Declaration of Rights and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act. In Barron v. …

The FTC’s Proposed Ban On Noncompetes – Predictions

Following his election, President Biden issued “The Biden Plan for Strengthening Worker Organizing, Collective Bargaining and Unions,” in which he promised to work with Congress to “eliminate all non-compete agreements” with very limited exceptions. While a bipartisan bill, the Workforce …

Update Policies to Comply with the Massachusetts CROWN Act

At the end of October 2022, the Massachusetts Act Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Natural and Protective Hairstyles (the “CROWN Act”) went into effect. The CROWN Act expands the definition of “race” under Chapter 151B to include “traits historically associated with …

2023 Changes in Massachusetts Employment Laws

            Beginning January 1, 2023, changes to the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Law, retail premium pay, and Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law take effect. Changes to Minimum Wage & Premium Pay Changes to Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) …

Employers Must Remember Their Obligations under the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (the “Act”), which went into effect on April 1, 2018, amended Massachusetts General Law c. 151B to include “pregnancy or a condition related to pregnancy, including, but not limited to, lactation, or the need …