Articles About Massachusetts Labor and Employment Law.

On May 18, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced details of the Baker-Polito administration’s four-phase approach to reopening Massachusetts and released guidelines and requirements for businesses resuming operations. The process will be data-driven and fluid with the expectation that there will be at least three weeks before the start of

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave’s (DFML) proposed amendments to existing regulations for the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) include significant changes relating to the private or self-funded plan exemption. Employers offering approved private plans may be exempt from making PFMLA contributions. The start date

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On May 18, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and the Massachusetts Reopening Advisory Board released the Reopening Massachusetts Report (the “Report”), which provides details regarding the state’s four-phase return-to-work plan.  The Report provides that manufacturing facilities may reopen as of May 18, 2020, and certain other businesses, including offices

With less than eight months before benefits become available under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (PFML), the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (Department) released proposed amendments to regulations previously finalized on July 1, 2019.

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) recently issued new guidance for employers, addressing a number of questions related to the effect returning to work will have on employees’ unemployment benefits and employers’ obligations.  The guidance addresses topics including the effect on unemployment of an employee’s refusal to return

Massachusetts has issued emergency regulations allowing employers to verify an individual’s identity by teleconference to comply with the state Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) law during the current state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

On April 9, 2020, the Massachusetts’ Department of Criminal Justice Information Systems (DCJIS) passed an Emergency Regulation to address the social distancing limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Any entity requesting criminal offender record information through DCJIS’s iCORI database (CORI) must first obtain the subject’s authorization. Previously, as part of this authorization process, the requesting party had to verify the subject’s identity in person by examining government-issued photo identification. If an in-person interaction was not possible, the CORI authorization must have been signed by the subject and certified by a notary public.

In Jinks v. Credico (USA) LLC (March 31, 2020), Judge Kenneth Salinger in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court provided guidance on two important wage and hour issues. First, the court concluded that the “right-to-control” test was the appropriate method for determining whether two companies were “joint employers” for purposes of the Massachusetts wage and hour laws.

On Thursday, April 9, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s administration announced the partial implementation of unemployment benefits in accordance with the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

The current circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 crisis have brought paid family and medical leave to the forefront of the national consciousness. While the federal government and other states have created new, immediately effective, paid family and medical leave laws, Massachusetts has remained committed to the existing timeframe for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA), which will be effective January 1, 2021.

Recently, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division (“FLD”), which enforces the state’s wage and hour laws, published its answers to frequently asked questions (“FAQ”) that the FLD has been receiving from both employers and employees in the wake of COVID-19. The FAQ covers the following important issues:

On March 23, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued COVID-19 Order No. 13: “Order Assuring Continued Operation of Essential Services in the Commonwealth, Closing Certain Workplaces, and Prohibiting Gatherings of More Than 10 People” (the “Order”). Please click here for a copy of the Order.

On March 23, 2020, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued an Order requiring all nonessential businesses and organizations to close their physical workspaces and facilities to customers, workers and the public. This Order came days after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported the state’s first death from COVID-19. A copy of the Governor’s Order is here.

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) has issued emergency regulations (430 CMR 22.00 et seq) enabling employees who have been placed on “standby status” by their employer to be eligible for unemployment benefits. It is assumed that “standby status” includes both lay-offs and furloughs, so long as the employee has an “expected return to work date.”