On April 14, 2020, the Brookline Department of Public Health issued the following advisory: “Effective April 17, 2020 every individual is required to wear a protective face covering at all times when in the public.”[1] The mandate contains no expiry. This article poses constitutional questions relevant to the town’s broad rule. In order to …
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As part of the federal response to the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, restaurants are eligible for loans to cover their payroll costs through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which can include tips paid to wait staff. Such loans are then forgiven if certain conditions are met, meaning the restaurant does not have to pay the money …
The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act signed by the President on March 18, 2020, requires non-healthcare provider employers with less than 500 employees to give up to 12-weeks of job-protected leave to parents to care for their children necessitated by school/daycare closures or loss of childcare due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) health …
Tough times call for tough measures. Many employers will rely on this adage to avoid their obligations under Massachusetts law during the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Massachusetts law generally requires employers to pay all wages and accrued vacation on the day that someone is laid off, not per the usual billing cycle. Employees …
The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision this week rendering au pairs in Massachusetts subject to the state’s wage and hour laws, which require that an employee be paid a minimum of $12.00 for each hour worked up to and including 40 hours in a single week and $18.00 for each hour thereover. …
Continue reading "Massachusetts Au Pairs Are Entitled To State Minimum Wage Too"
The Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (Act) was approved by the legislature last summer and went into effect April 1, 2018. If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, please make yourself aware of your civil rights under the Act, and plan how you are going to exercise them. ACCOMMODATIONS A pregnant …
Given the recent steps announced by Mayor Bill DeBlasio of New York City to increase the number of Black and Latino students at the city’s most elite public schools and the constitutional implications such a proposition brings, it might serve Brookline well to understand how it is addressing race in its own school district. Examining …
