If you quit your Massachusetts job and you want Unemployment Insurance (UI), you must have had a good reason for quitting. There are two kinds of reasons the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) accepts: Serious employer-related reasons, called "good cause...
Employment Law
Has Your Massachusetts Employer Denied You Meal Break Time?
Massachusetts based Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. d/b/a Family Dollar has been cited $1.5 million in penalties for more than 3,900 violations of the state’s meal break laws, by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office (AG). Family Dollar was issued two citations by the...
Requesting Your Personnel Records From a Massachusetts Employer
The Massachusetts personnel record law, M.G.L. chapter 149, § 52C, allows a current or former employee to get a copy of their personnel file. ''Personnel record'', a record kept by an employer that identifies an employee, to the extent that the record is used or has...
Are You a Victim of Wage Theft by Your Massachusetts Employer?
Wage theft is more common than armed robbery in our country and three times as costly to the economy. Here in Massachusetts, wage theft costs individual workers more than $1 billion a year in earned wages. This hurts our communities and all the state’s taxpayers. The...
Are You a Victim of Wage Theft By Your Massachusetts Employer?
Wage theft in Massachusetts often goes unpunished despite state systems meant to combat it. Most recently, a Dorchester wholesale bakery and five temp agencies that helped staff the bakery have been cited over $440,000 for 30 wage and labor violations by the...
Massachusetts Parents Entitled to Take Off From Work For Personal/Family Needs
The Massachusetts Small Necessities Leave Act (SNLA) gives you up to 24 hours of job secured unpaid time off from work each year to Go to your child’s school activities, Go with your child to the doctor or dentist, or Go with your elderly relative to the doctor or...
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Increases to $15 Per Hour
Those making minimum wage in Massachusetts are about to see a bump in pay. Beginning January 1st, 2023, the standard minimum wage will increase to $15.00, and the tipped minimum wage will bump up to $6.75. The minimum wage applies to all employees except agricultural...
Worker Classification 101: Employee or Independent Contractor
A Massachusetts business might pay an independent contractor and an employee for the same or similar work, but there are key legal differences between the two. It is critical for business owners to correctly determine whether the people providing services are...
Is it Illegal for Massachusetts Employees to Skip Their Meal Break?
Massachusetts employees know that you are entitled to a lunch break while at work. As a matter of fact, it's Massachusetts law that workers have a right to at least a 30-minute meal break for each six hours worked in a calendar day. During this meal break workers are...
Anxiety Based Discrimination Complaints Rise in Massachusetts
Having a mental health issue interfere with your personal life is hard enough. But having it affect your Massachusetts working life can be even more difficult. For one thing, there’s dealing with your mental health challenge surrounded by people who may not know about...