In one of his last official acts as governor, Deval Patrick signed into law the new Massachusetts Parental Leave Act. The new law, which goes into effect on April 7, 2015, expands the current Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act to cover
Yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memo setting out the Obama Administration’s position that Title VII specifically prohibits discrimination based on transgender status or gender identity per se.
In the memo, Attorney General Holder pointed out that questions have arisen in a number of administrative and judicial contexts as to the appropriate legal standard applicable to claims of gender identity discrimination. While courts have recognized gender identity discrimination claims under a “sex-stereotyping” theory – discrimination based on a perceived failure to conform to particular gender characteristics – there is no consensus among courts as to whether discrimination based on gender identity or transgender status, per se, is illegal.
Continue Reading DOJ Now Interprets Title VII as Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Transgender Status
By a margin of almost 20%, Massachusetts voters have approved a measure permitting all workers to earn up to 40 hours of sick time each year. With this vote, Massachusetts has joined a small group of states (including Connecticut and California) and municipalities that allow for earned sick time for workers. Here’s what employers need to know about the new law.
Continue Reading What You Need to Know about the New Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law
With the November elections here, employers should take a moment to refresh their understanding on voting leave law in Massachusetts. Specifically, in Massachusetts, an employer must provide an employee up to two hours off after the opening of the polls in the employee’s town or ward to vote if the employee requests it.
At the same time NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell faces tough questions about Ray Rice, a new domestic violence law went into effect in Massachusetts. Employers with 50 or more employees must now provide employees who are victims of domestic violence up to 15 days of leave in any 12-month period. Governor Deval Patrick signed the
This week, in workplaces across America, millions of employees—up to 50 million of them by some estimates—will be filling in brackets and participating in “March Madness”
office pools. The amount of money wagered in these office pools each year is believed to be as much as $3 billion. Beyond the losses in productivity associated with
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has held an employer is prohibited from discriminating against its non-disabled employee based on that employee’s association with an immediate family member with a disability or handicap under Chapter 151B, the state’s antidiscrimination law. This decision expands the scope of employer liability.
Fans of Star Trek will no doubt remember the classic episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Employers facing claims under the 2008 amendments to the Massachusetts Wage Act are facing their own challenges, which could be called “The Trouble with Trebels.” Under the amendments, the Legislature changed the language of G.L. 149, § 150, to make
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently reported retaliation under all statutes as the most frequently filed discrimination charge in fiscal year 2012. Race and sex discrimination were the next most frequent charges. The statistics reflect charges of employment discrimination filed for statutes enforced by the EEOC.
The EEOC received almost 100,000 charges of discrimination in
Judge Cornelius Moriarty of the Worcester Superior Court recently found that unused personal time is included within the definition of “wages” under the Massachusetts Wage Act, G.L. c. 149, § 148.
The case, Donna Byrnes v. Konstantina B. Lukes et al., (Docket No. WOCV200901403, Sept. 27, 2012), involved various claims arising out of