by Adam. J. Shafran In a recent class action law suit brought by employees of a security company, the Massachusetts Superior Court described the legal standard to be applied when determining whether a thirty-minute meal break constitutes compensable working time. In this case brought under the Massachusetts Wage Act, the employer Longwood Security Services Inc. […]
Blog
by Adam J. Shafran In February of 2017 Adam Shafran and Jonathon Friedmann appeared before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of over 200 employees from two of the nation’s largest environmental maintenance companies to argue an issue of first impression.
Adam Shafran and Robert Rudolph presented an employment webinar “Do This, Not That: Navigating Complex Legal Employment Issues in the Food and Beverage Industry” for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA) on February 15. Details about the webinar are below. If you were unable to attend, you can download the recorded webinar.
By Adam J. Shafran Class action waivers are becoming increasingly prevalent in employment contracts due to their ability to make it more difficult for employees to assert class action lawsuits against their employers. However, the question is – can employers reasonably expect a court to uphold such an agreement and require an employee to pursue […]
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction on a nationwide basis enjoining the Department of Labor’s final rule updating and modernizing the overtime regulations (“Final Rule”). The Final Rule would have gone into effect on December 1, 2016. The Order was issued on November 22, 2016 in […]
Is your company a single employer? Earlier this year, a Massachusetts Superior Court for the first time applied the “single integrated employer” theory of liability to a case involving a restaurant chain, ruling that employees from separately incorporated but related entities could bring a class action against each of the entities under the state Wage […]
by Adam J. Shafran Beginning on December 1, 2016, nearly five million employees will now be eligible for overtime compensation under new regulations issued by the United States Department of Labor, marking the first change in these laws since the 1970’s. Currently, executive, administrative and professional employees earning a salary of more than $23,660 per […]
Unfortunately, the Massachusetts appellate courts have not directly decided the issue whether an employer can re-characterize an employee’s termination from “without cause” to “for cause” based on information learned after an employee’s termination. While the Massachusetts courts have had the opportunity to consider the issue, they have neither adopted nor rejected the doctrine.
by James L. Rudolph, Esq. As a small business grows, it is not unusual for a critical or key employee to ask the owner for stock in the company, or for an owner to believe that providing stock to key employees is appropriate, and may even be necessary to keep the employee. For a restaurant […]
by James L. Rudolph, Esq. and Robert P. Rudolph, Esq. In a first of its kind ruling by a Massachusetts Superior Court judge providing guidance on the applicability of the integrated enterprise and joint employer theories to Massachusetts Wage Act claims, the Honorable Bruce R. Henry has held that restaurant managers who worked for the […]
