Massachusetts is one step closer to a strengthened equal pay law after the State Senate passed equal pay legislation in late January. The bill, which now goes to the House of Representatives for review, seeks to address the continuing wage gap between men and women. Although Massachusetts adopted its first-in-the-nation…
This is the second in our series of posts about the NLRB’s recent decision regarding employees recording in the workplace. For Part 1 of this series, click here. As we previously discussed, the NLRB just decided that employers cannot make a blanket ban on employees making recordings or taking photographs…
Whole Foods, a major grocery store chain, has a company-wide policy that prohibits its employees from making any recording—audio or video—and from taking any photographs in any area of a Whole Foods store. But a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might require Whole Foods to make…
I have written previously about the EEOC’s litigation on behalf of Aimee Stephens, whose employer—a Michigan funeral home—fired her when she announced that she was transitioning and would present as a woman at work in the future. At ZDB we have continued to follow this potentially groundbreaking federal litigation in…
On Friday, the Supreme Judicial Court reminded the Boston police department (“BPD”) that it cannot give women a special hiring preference and thereby discriminate against men simply because there are woefully few women in the department. Sean Pugsley sued for discrimination after the BPD deliberately bypassed its main certification list…
The Supreme Court has recently been quite receptive to litigants asserting their rights to religious freedom. (For Exhibit A, see Burwell v. Hobby Lobby.) On June 1, the Court in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch applied that pro-religion perspective in the employment discrimination context and took a fairly strong stand…
Note: This post is Part 2 in our series of blog posts detailing protections under the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Law. Click here to return to Part 1. What are the Employer’s Notice and Record-Keeping Obligations? The new law and proposed regulations also impose a number of record-keeping obligations on household employers. Domestic workers…
Earlier this spring, the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act took effect, providing expansive new protections and rights to individuals who provide household services, including childcare, housekeeping, housecleaning, cooking, and eldercare. In the past, domestic workers have had informal and flexible arrangements with their household employers with respect to…
On May 15, 2015 the Supreme Judicial Court released its opinion in DaRosa & others v. City of New Bedford, Monsanto Company & others, addressing the question of how the work-product doctrine and public records laws interact when government entities are involved in litigation. The case has negative implications for…
In September 2014, the EEOC filed its first employment discrimination lawsuits on behalf of transgender employees. (Rachel Stroup previously wrote about those suits, and related moves by the federal government to recognize antidiscrimination protection for transgender individuals, here.) The first of those suits, against an eye clinic, has settled; the…