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The Legal Line®

NLRB’s New “Ambush Election” Rules Face Stiff Competition

March 12, 2015

Enacted by the National Labor Relations Board in December 2014 and set to go into effect on April 14, 2015, new NLRB regulations could potentially shift the balance of power in union elections strongly into the unions’ favor. Commentators and the dissenting Board members believe that these new rules, taken together, could shorten the average … Read more

Proposed Massachusetts Law to Restrict Scheduling Flexibility

March 11, 2015

Currently pending before the Massachusetts Legislature is a bill, proposed by Representative Sean Garballey, that would significantly curtail employers’ scheduling flexibility. The bill would eliminate the “clopening” shift, where an employee closes one day then opens the next, by requiring that employers give employees at least 11 hours off between shifts. Thus, if an employee … Read more

New Hampshire’s Equal Pay Law has New Language

January 7, 2015

New Hampshire’s Equal Pay Act, R.S.A. 275:37 has new language which became effective January 1, 2015. Just as before, the new version of the Act, set forth at R.S.A. 275:37-1, is intended to prevent discrimination in pay on the basis of sex. The newly effective Equal Pay Act does contain some important changes. Going forward, … Read more

Ayer Publishes Article in URMIA about Social Media Policies

November 13, 2014

The University Risk Management and Insurance Association (“URMIA”) release of its annual scholarly publication, the URMIA Journal. As it has in past years, the 2014 URMIA Journal contains a piece written by Allison Ayer entitled “When Professors Tweet: Using Social Media Policies to Manage the Risk of Faculty and Staff Social Media Misuse and Legal … Read more

Massachusetts Passes Sick Leave

November 13, 2014

Earlier this month, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question which requires public and private companies in Massachusetts to provide sick time to their employees. Employers with at least 11 employees will have to provide the opportunity for employees to earn paid sick time, while companies with fewer than 11 employees must provide the chance for … Read more

Class Action Waivers Enforceable, For now . . .

April 2, 2014

Here’s the familiar nightmare scenario: The demand letter arrives from the lawyer of a former server claiming wage and hour violations at your restaurant. You can’t remember the server, but she claims to have worked at your place a year ago for all of a month and was allegedly required to do more side work … Read more

Restaurant Employer Wins Lawsuit because of Timing, Consistency and Documentation

November 7, 2013

The federal court in Connecticut recently granted a restaurant chain summary judgment on a race, sex and retaliation claim because the company had proper documentation, acted quickly, and treated people consistently. As we have said on this page in the past, the best way to manage your employees and to improve your position in defense … Read more

Vrountas and Ayer Published in URMIA Journal

August 26, 2013

The University Risk Management and Insurance Association (“URMIA”) recently announced the release of its annual scholarly publication, the URMIA Journal. This year, the URMIA Journal contains a piece written by Chris Vrountas and Allison Ayer entitled “Policies, Timing Documentation, and Consistency: Four Tools for Colleges and Universities to Manage Employee Relations and Mitigate the Risks … Read more