In a key ruling for public-sector labor law, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court determined that an involuntary transfer from a day shift to an overnight shift can be considered an adverse employment action in retaliation cases—even if the transfer comes with a bargained-for pay increase. The case, City of Newton v. Commonwealth Employment Relations Board,...

According to Attorney General Andrea Campbell, several fast-food franchise operators in Massachusetts, including Dunkin’, McDonald’s, and Subway, have been fined for violating child labor laws. Cafua Management Company, which operates over 80 Dunkin’ locations across the state, was fined $140,000 for violations between 2020 and 2023. Offenses included allowing minors to work: Without required work...

Massachusetts may soon ban most pre-employment marijuana testing under a proposed bill, H. 2179. The bill would allow testing only after a conditional job offer, but employers couldn’t make a clean test a condition of employment, effectively ending the practice for most roles. Why It Matters If passed, this bill would align Massachusetts with states...

The Biden administration announced a new rule designed to expand overtime pay for millions of the nation’s lower-paid salaried workers. The rule was first proposed last September, reflecting in-depth research of employers, workers, unions, and other stakeholders. This final rule takes into account more than 33,000 comments, and it redefines the salary thresholds determining which...

In an interesting turn of events, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned non-compete agreements by employers last week. The new rule prohibits companies from enforcing existing non-compete agreements on anyone other than senior executives, who the FTC defines as individuals earning “more than $151,164 annually who have policy making responsibilities at an organization.” The rule...