By Bello Welsh LLP Businesses of all sizes are having to make significant changes in many areas of their operations and to respond to unprecedented issues stemming from the continuing spread of COVID-19. The following are key business and legal consideration for all employers dealing with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace.
By Bello Welsh LLP This Alert has been superseded. The updated Alert may be found here. On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”), which aims to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by, among other things, providing a limited period of paid sick leave for employees […]
The House Ways and Means Committee has published an overview of employer leave requirements and tax credit provisions under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. You can access that chart here.
MA has announced some economic aid for small business affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (press release: https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-10-million-small-business-recovery-loan-fund) Key provisions: loans up to $75,000 per business ($10 million total fund) for Massachusetts-based businesses with under 50 full- and part-time employees (including nonprofits) loans immediately available; no payments due for 6 months; 30-months of principal and interest payments […]
By Martha J. Zackin On Jan. 31, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new version of Form I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification. Although employers can and should begin using the new Form I-9 immediately, the old Form I-9 will not become obsolete until April 30, 2020. Background. The law requires employers, certain […]
By Alexandra D. Thaler With the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rule becoming effective in less than two months, on January 1, 2020, employers are well advised to be working now to implement any needed changes by the new year. This fall, the DOL issued its final rule affecting pay requirements for exempt executive, […]
By Martha J. Zackin and Hayley Cotter Following weeks of piecemeal changes and updates, the Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) has now issued the final regulations (effective July 1, 2019). Click here for a revised Bello / Welsh alert, which has been updated to be consistent with both the final regulations and the bill […]
On December 3, 2018, we posted about the new Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law (“PFML”). Although the post was accurate at the time published, the Department of Paid Family and Medical Leave (the “Department”), has since pushed out some deadlines and made other changes. We will be posting substantive guidance shortly, but in […]
By Justin L. Engel Following a two-week trial, Bello Welsh has secured a major victory for a federal contractor in an enforcement action alleging gender-based pay discrimination brought by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) under Executive Order 11246. The case, OFCCP v. Analogic Corporation, No. 2017-OFC-00001, is the first […]
By Justin L. Engel In October 2018, amendments to Massachusetts law concerning employer criminal history inquiries became effective. Under the previous version of the law, employers were prohibited from asking about: (i) an arrest, detention, or disposition regarding any violation of law in which no conviction resulted; (ii) a first conviction for any of the […]