In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employee who was transferred even without a loss of pay or seniority because of her sex nonetheless may have experienced illegal discrimination. In Muldrow v. St. Louis, Sergeant Jatonya Clayborn Muldrow sued the City of St. Louis under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 for sex…
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Developments in the Dynamic World
of Business and Employment Law
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published new guidance on harassment in the workplace on April 29, 2024. The EEOC’s new guidelines cover not only sexual harassment, but a wide range of illegal harassment, including on the basis of race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identify, age, and religion. The guidance supersedes guidance going back as far as 1987. Under…
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Bennett & Belfort partner, Michaela May, is scheduled to speak on “Employment Law Updates” at the Massachusetts Bar Association’s annual Labor & Employment Spring Conference on May 9, 2024. The panel, which is comprised of employee- and management-side practitioners and in-house counsel, will discuss developments in discrimination, wage-and-hour, restrictive covenants, trade secrets and artificial intelligence. May will be focusing on…
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule on April 23, 2024, that, if it goes into effect, will ban almost all employee non-competition agreements. The rule would not bar non-competition agreements entered into as part of the bona fide sale of a business, and would not affect existing agreements for a narrow class of “senior executives,” as defined…
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It was recently reported by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in an article entitled “Responding to threat of lawsuit, MCAD begs patience.” that the Lawyers For Civil Rights (“LCR”) and The Urban League of Eastern MA (“ULEM”) wrote the Commission a demand letter (“Demand”) seeking immediate action to address delays in taking in and processing discrimination claims filed at the Massachusetts Commission…
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In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court delivered a significant clarification regarding the applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for transportation workers in interstate commerce. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Court, emphasized that what matters is whether a worker is a transportation worker, not whether they work in the transportation industry. See Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St.,…
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On March 28, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc SJC No - 13382 (2024) (Jordan’s), providing further guidance on the application of the Massachusetts Wage Act to sales commission plans. In particular, the Court evaluated whether premium pay, that is enhanced pay for overtime or Sunday work (now repealed), was due to inside…
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Bennett & Belfort is pleased to announce that its founding partner, David E. Belfort has been invited to co-chair a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) panel on Successfully Trying & Negotiating Employment Cases on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024, by live telecast between the hours of 9:30am – 11:30am EST. Mr. Belfort will be joined by co-chair Monica R. Shah, Esq.,…
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