Month: August 2016

Massachusetts Senate Passes Bill Requiring Paid Medical Leave

Last night the Massachusetts Senate passed H.4531, a bill designed to provide family medical leave and temporary leave insurance to employees. The entire bill can be found here: BillH4351. This proposed act applies to all employers with one or more employees and provides the following: 

  • Employees are entitled to leave if they have worked 1250 hours and at least 9 months, whichever occurs later.   
  • Qualified employees are entitled to 12 weeks of family medical leave.
  • Absent special circumstances, employees who take leave under this act are entitled to be restored to the same or similar job after the leave ends.
  • Taking leave does not affect right to receive accrued vacation time, sick leave, bonuses, or other employment benefits.
  • The leave is paid.
  • Violations of the section requiring payment of benefits are subject the Wage Act’s penalties, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees.    
  • Anti-retaliation provisions that appear to incorporate Wage Act’s penalties, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees.
  • Leave taken under this Act will run concurrently with leave taken under the Massachusetts Parental Leave Law and the Family Medical Leave Act.

If passed by the House and signed by the Governor, this law would dramatically impact the workplace.  If you have any questions about this proposed law or any other employment issue, please feel free to contact us.    

EEOC Issues New Guidance Regarding ADA Leave

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued new guidance regarding employer leave policies and the American with Disabilities Act.   The intersection of the ADA and employee leave is one of the most difficult areas of employment and, not surprisingly, one of its most litigated.  Importantly, this new guidance expresses the EEOC’s view that employer policies that cap maximum leave time at a certain amount of days likely run afoul of the ADA as they indicate an employer’s unwillingness to engage in a fact-sensitive inquiry in connection with each employee’s request for leave.  The new guidance also expresses the EEOC’s view that 100% healed polices are likely to lead to violations of the ADA because they result in employer’s refusal to grant reasonable accommodations.  The guidance also contains helpful scenarios regarding an employee’s right to leave and what length of leave is considered reasonable.  The entire guidance is available here on the EEOC’s website.   

 In light of this new guidance, employers should (1) review their internal policies to insure ADA compliance and (2) train their managers and supervisors on the ADA-mandated interactive process.  If you have any questions about disability law or the interactive process, please feel free to contact us.   

Governor Signs Pay Equity Act

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law S.2119, an act referred to as the Pay Equity Act. The Act contains the following prohibitions and important remedies.

  • Employers are prohibited from paying employees differently because of their gender for comparable work. Employers who violate this provision must pay double the disparity and attorneys’ fees to the impacted employee. Employers can avoid liability by establishing that they have conducted a good-faith audit within the three years preceding the claim and that they have made reasonable efforts to eliminate pay disparity.
  • Employers cannot (1) force employees to refrain from discussing or disclosing information regarding their own wages or other employees’ wages; (2) screen candidates based upon their wage history; (3) require applicants to disclose wage history as a condition of being interviewed or as a condition of continuing to be considered for an offer of employment; (4) seek the salary history of any prospective employee without their authorization; and (5) retaliate against anyone for exercising these rights. Employers who violate one or more of these five prohibitions must pay the impacted employee an amount equal to double his or her lost wages and attorneys’ fees.
  • The Act defines “comparable work” as “work that is substantially similar in that it requires substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility and is performed under similar working conditions.” Variations in compensation and benefits may be permitted under certain specific circumstances, including a bona fide seniority or merit system; a system under which earnings are measured by quantity or quality of production or sales; geographic location; education; training; and experience. These factors, however, must be reasonably related to the job and consistent with business necessity.

This law does not go into effect until January 1, 2018, so there is an opportunity to plan ahead to comply with its provisions. We suspect that the attorney general will issue regulations interpreting this Act. For updates on those regulations and on any changes to the law’s provisions and requirements, please contact the lawyers in our employment group.

Jeff Cook Re-Elected Secretary of Massachusetts Business Roundtable

cook-sqRecently, Jeff Cook was re-elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.  MBR is a public policy organization comprised of Chief Executive Officers and Senior Executives from some of the state’s largest employers.  MBR’s mission is to strengthen the state’s economic vitality.  MBR’s policy work includes task forces on education initiatives, health care, taxation/regulation, workforce development, and infrastructure issues.

Jeff has been a member of MBR for twenty-five years, and is currently an active member of its Energy Task Force.  Jeff has also worked on the Transportation Task Force, where he contributed to the Pittsfield Airport project.  MBR’s Deputy Director Chris Kealey describes Jeff as offering an invaluable and important perspective on business in western Massachusetts, and how statewide decisions affect trade and commerce in the Berkshires. For more about MBR, please visit its website.