Earlier this month, the Superior Court in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, held that a tenant need not pay rent if the agreed upon purpose for its lease has been banned. It is no doubt a ruling for our times that applies old law and common sense to doing business during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Judgment: … Read more
Colleges and universities have already had to adjust to many changes this year. In the middle of the COVID-crisis, the U.S. Department of Education finalized new Title IX regulations (summarized in this VAC blog post). Now Massachusetts colleges and universities have additional rules to contend with. Last month, Massachusetts passed new legislation addressing the obligations … Read more
In the final days of the Trump administration, executive agencies continue to take a flurry of actions, issuing new guidance and publishing proposed and final rules that impact employers. For example, on January 6, 2021, the DOL published the final rule regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) test to determine when a worker is … Read more
The DOL recently announced its final rule regarding when and how, if at all, employers can share tips with cooks, servers and others on the restaurant team. Among other things, the Department: removes prohibitions for those employers that do not take a tip credit from implementing mandatory “nontraditional” tip pools; prohibits employers from keeping employees’ … Read more
Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave began January 1, 2021. Post your poster! Here is an example from the state: https://www.mass.gov/doc/paid-family-and-medical-leave-mandatory-workplace-poster/download We’ve all been paying for this benefit already, but now the rubber meets the road to see if we’ve been paying enough and how the system will really work. Briefly, the new law gives employees … Read more
On December 16, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) once again updated its guidance concerning COVID-19, this time to address vaccinations. Just as with past guidance, the new information regarding vaccinations comes in the form of questions and answers that show up in the last section of the EEOC’s COVID-19 technical assistance publication. These … Read more
Just before Thanksgiving, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published proposed new guidance regarding religious discrimination in the workplace. The 100+ page guidance explains an employer’s obligations regarding religion discrimination mostly by giving common examples of how religion and workplace rules tend to collide and if and how the scenarios violate the law. In fact, … Read more
While much of the country was heading to the polls on November 3, the United States Department of Labor issued two new Opinion Letters. In these letters, the DOL provides opinions on when employee time traveling to remote work sites and at voluntary training programs is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Compensability … Read more
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued new guidance regarding an employer’s obligation to track hours of employees who are teleworking. Briefly, the new guidance clarifies that an employer has an obligation to exercise reasonable diligence to track the actual hours worked of employees who are working remotely away from a physical worksite. While the … Read more
Opioid use has been on the rise in recent years. Many people became addicted after doctors prescribed opioid medications like oxycodone for pain control after a surgery or for a chronic injury. But because of their addictive nature, people began abusing these drugs, in many cases substituting illegal heroin (also an opioid) in their place. … Read more