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Like all good legal questions, the answer to whether a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) is enforceable in sexual harassment cases is “it depends.” An NDA or confidentiality agreement is a signed legal document that restricts one party from sharing certain information with others. In the 1940s, NDAs were originally used in maritime law, and in the […]
On March 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Lindke v. Freed that lays out a two-part test for when a public official’s social media activity constitutes state action. According to the Court, a public official’s posts on social media are attributable to the government if the official had the actual authority […]
Question: We have an employee who was summoned for jury duty. Do we, as an employer, have to pay them for the days they’re missing work? Answer: Jury duty is an unavoidable but important part of our legal system. It is also time-consuming and will inevitably force people to miss work. Federally, there is no […]
The 2023 and 2024 legislative landscape witnessed a surge in states and cities implementing diverse pay transparency requirements. Despite the progress in recent years in reducing the wage gap, gender pay disparities persist, with current studies indicating that women—particularly women of color—earn only 84 cents for every dollar earned by men. Pay transparency laws aim […]
Over the past few years, there have been much higher rates of immigration than had previously been projected. In 2019, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—which is tasked with providing independent, nonpartisan analysis of economic and budgetary issues to support the Congressional budget process—estimated that net immigration in 2023 would total one million people. Now that […]
Recently, in the first of a series of articles focusing on companies’ online employment recruitment practices, we wrote about a company’s need to consider what states require an employer to include (or prohibit an employer from including) in a job application that is made available online to residents of states other than Massachusetts. Here, we […]
In a ruling widely considered a victory for employers, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the standards for assessing an application by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a 10(j) injunction should be the same as used in other civil injunction applications. Although widely anticipated as bringing harmony to an area with numerous “circuit […]
Because of the complexities and wide-ranging effects of artificial intelligence (AI), the Biden administration and Congress have cautiously approached regulating the technology. At this juncture, it isn’t clear which administrative agency and/or legislators will take the lead on regulating AI in the workplace at the federal level. However, there are recent developments in the form […]
A landmark $2.8 billion settlement announced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in an antitrust class action filed by former college athletes reportedly sets a path for schools to share revenue with players. Although many of the details of the settlement haven’t been made public and the judge has yet to approve it, many […]
Question: A former employee who was fired has requested a copy of her personnel file. What documents would she be entitled to receive? Answer: Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 149, §52C outlines what constitutes a personnel file and discusses an employer’s duty to retain that file. The statute further provides a formal process for employees to […]