Photo: Governor Charlie Baker (Public Domain)

Last week, Governor Baker signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act into law, which guarantees greater protections for pregnant women and nursing mothers in the workplace.  The bill had unanimously passed in both the House and Senate.  The law prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee

In a highly-anticipated decision issued yesterday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit filed by a woman who was fired because of her off-duty use of medical marijuana.  The SJC held that the woman’s claims for disability discrimination under the Massachusetts antidiscrimination statute, G.L. ch. 151B, could go forward.
Continue Reading Massachusetts High Court Reinstates Suit by Employee Fired for Off-Duty Medical Marijuana Use

Photo: OTA Photos via Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)
Photo: OTA Photos via Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)

One of the key provisions of the new Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (which goes into effect on July 1, 2018) is that it prohibits employers from requiring prospective employees to disclose their salary history.  The reasoning behind this provision is as follows:  if employers are allowed to ask applicants about their salary history, and base compensation on the answers to those questions, applicants who have been on the receiving end of discriminatory pay practices in the past will continue to be hampered by past pay inequity throughout their careers.  If employers cannot base pay on what an applicant made previously, so the thinking goes, employers will have to set pay based on what the job is worth.Continue Reading New Survey Shows How Questions About Prior Salary Harm Female Job Applicants

Photo: TipsTimesAdmin via Flickr (CC by 2.0) - tipstimes.com
Photo: TipsTimesAdmin via Flickr (CC by 2.0) – tipstimes.com

Earlier this week, Massachusetts House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that would guarantee greater protections for pregnant women and nursing mothers.  The legislation prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee because of “pregnancy or a condition related to pregnancy,” which is defined to include the need to express breast milk for a nursing child.  It also prohibits employers from denying pregnant women and nursing mothers reasonable accommodations if requested by the employee unless it would impose an undue hardship upon the employer.  The bill provides the following examples of such reasonable accommodations:
Continue Reading Massachusetts House Passes Legislation to Protect Pregnant and Nursing Mothers in the Workplace

Photo: Chuck Coker via Flickr (CC by ND 2.0)
Photo: Chuck Coker via Flickr (CC by ND 2.0)

Last Thursday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) heard oral arguments in a case that asks whether employers can be required to make accommodations for employees’ off-duty use of medical marijuana.

The case was brought by a woman who suffers from Chron’s disease and who treats the condition with marijuana, as authorized by state law.  (Massachusetts voters passed an initiative in 2012 decriminalizing the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes.  In 2016, Massachusetts voters passed a measure decriminalizing marijuana for recreational use.  Marijuana is illegal for all purposes under federal law.)  After the plaintiff accepted an entry-level job at a marketing company, she was told that she would need to take a drug test. 
Continue Reading Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Considers Employees’ Use of Medical Marijuana

Photo: William Brawley via Flickr (CC by 2.0)
Photo: William Brawley via Flickr (CC by 2.0)

Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a suit filed by construction-industry employers and their trade associations seeking to block enforcement of the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law in settings where

In a historic moment, yesterday, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a comprehensive pay-equity bill aimed at eradicating the wage gap in Massachusetts. With the bill’s passage, Massachusetts has become the first state in the nation to prohibit employers from asking job applicants to provide a salary history during the interview process.

Supporters of the

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, along with several other states, is challenging retail stores’ use of “on call” shifts.  This month, Massachusetts joined with California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York and Rhode Island to send requests for information regarding the use of “on call” shifts to 15 national retailers that